Dance
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/ USA 2009, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
Buddha
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2010, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
Bear
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2012, bronze (Photo by the artist)
Solitude
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2014, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
Some of Dinh’s most captivating works are those in which a series of figures seemingly evolve from separate sheets of paper. In his series of Dancers and Dreamers, each of the elements is slightly more folded than the previous one, giving the viewer a sense of his artistic process as he gradually dampens and models the watercolor paper to give the figures three-dimensional form. In I Want to Fly (2005), which he created for the landmark origami exhibition Masters of Origami at the Hangar-7 Gallery in Salzburg, Austria, in 2005, his figures not only evolve from the paper sheet. They grow wings and take flight as angels. In the wittiest of these series, Fly (2010), Dinh depicts a legendary Japanese wizard-like character, Abe no Seimei, who folds a paper bird and then uses his magical powers to transform it into a real bird, which then flies away. Japan’s most celebrated artist, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), captured the scene in one of his popular Manga painting manuals, in which he depicted sheets of folded paper transforming magically into egrets. It was this image that inspired Dinh to create the whole scene as an origami sculpture. In Dinh’s masterpiece of origami engineering, the squares of paper are connected at the corners and are hung from the ceiling. As the work moves with the air, the bird genuinely seems to take flight.
Among his human figures, legendary Buddhist characters are well represented. Perhaps the most iconic of Dinh’s images is his Buddha (2010), folded from cream-colored watercolor paper in the form of the head of the Buddha, recognizable by his ushnisha, or cranial protuberance, and his elongated earlobes, but created without any facial details. This powerful, faceless image reminds us of the Zen Buddhist rejection of icons in favor of focusing on the actual teachings of the Buddha. Dinh left the head faceless in the hope that everyone will see their own face in empty surface and see the Buddha in themselves. “We must always remind ourselves,” he explains, “of the good nature and innocence that we were born with.” His figure of Bodhidharma (2004), the patriarch of meditational Zen Buddhism, is almost as mysterious, a tall form that is mostly hood, with a rugged face peering out from a single opening. Through precise folding, Dinh succeeds in conveying the sullen expression—complete with bulging eyes—that is often portrayed in Zen paintings of this legendary teacher.
Dancers
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2003, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
In another Buddhist figure, Bukan and Tiger (2007), Dinh depicts the Chinese Chan/Zen Master Feng Gan seated on a mat accompanied by his pet tiger. Executed with a few simple folds in humble brown paper, the sculpture possesses the tenderness and humor that is typical of Zen portraiture in other media, including the ink paintings on which this piece was modeled. The sensitivity of his delicate folding here exemplifies Dinh’s brilliance as an origami artist and his deep affinity for the spiritual nature of the subject he is depicting. “I do read about Buddhism and Zen, and feel very close to Buddhism’s principal teaching,” explains Dinh. “I can imagine myself to be a Buddhist monk.”
Bodhidharma (detail)
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2004, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
Mother and Child
Giang Dinh, Vietnam/USA 2005, watercolor paper (Photo by the artist)
from mushrooms to magical worlds
THE CREATIVE CRUMPLING OF VINCENT FLODERER
Photo by Vincent Briè
It all began with a mushroom for Vincent Floderer (b.1961). In 1996, the French artist attended a workshop led by English folder Paul Jackson (see page 56) on paper crumpling techniques. Jackson’s striking works of abstract paper sculpture were unlike anything else being created in the origami world. They profoundly inspired the French artist, who decided to use the techniques he had learned from Jackson to create representational sculptures of organic forms. At the time, Floderer was fascinated by mushrooms, toadstools and other fungi, so he experimented with these elegant organisms. By using thin paper, dampening and stretching it and adding surface coatings, he succeeded in modeling paper mushrooms that are barely distinguishable from the real thing. Since then, his exquisite and often spectacular crumpled sculptures and installations have been exhibited widely and have gained international acclaim. His work has also spawned the French organization Le Crimp, a growing group of artists and scientists who are exploring the possibilities of creasing, crumpling and crushing paper.
Part of Floderer’s success as a “crumpler” can be credited to his solid foundation as a fine artist and his deep understanding of plasticity and form. He studied at one of the world’s most prestigious art colleges, L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he took workshops in drawing, modeling, morphology, statuary molding, perspective and architectural elements. Having learned how to model realistic sculptures from stone, clay and other materials, he was able to apply his knowledge to the two-dimensional medium of paper. By studying paper folding more deeply and experimenting with different types of paper, he has gradually developed a whole new vocabulary of folding and crumpling techniques that allow him to achieve realism in his work. Because of the perceived irregularity of the crumpled fold, some origami purists have not accepted Floderer’s crumpling as true origami. However, many of his seemingly unteachable forms, including the mushrooms, have very precise crease patterns and folding instructions. He has also taught crumpling workshops and classes, proving to the purists that his work is indeed a type of origami.
Big Blue
Vincent Floderer, France 2005, Japanese Tengujoshi paper (Photo by Romain Chevrier)
Boom! (detail)
Vincent Floderer, France 2000, Wenzhou calligraphy paper, watercolor (Photo by Romain Chevrier)
Over the years, many of his sculptures have been of fungi, plants and sea creatures. To create these highly textured natural forms, Floderer uses thin sheets of paper, such as tissue paper and even paper napkins, and at times applies beeswax and other substances to enhance their color and texture. The range of techniques, tones and textures he has developed have allowed him to create a whole repertoire of mushroom sculptures, from the delicate group Clitocybe (2007), folded very precisely out of tissue paper, to clusters of sulfur tufts and larger, thick-stemmed oysters. As well as mushrooms, Floderer has also succeeded in using crumpling to model a highly realistic