Charles Clary, or Paper Extravaganza, creates amazing papercut shapes, as well as the sculptural topographic installations. Late in 2009, Art Milk got a chance to sit down with this papercut pioneer, at which time they asked him about his inspiration.
It took a while to come up with this concept. When I started graduate school I was primarily making paintings that were based on this microscopic viral world. I was forcing them a bit so they weren’t coming out like I wanted them to. I kinda got stuck until I was awarded a studio in New York for a quarter. While I was there I decided to play around with materials and break away from the 2-dimensional format, because it was becoming a little to restrictive. I hit up as many art stores as I could and happened to stumble upon the paper I use today. I had played around with cut outs before and thought it might translate well with the imagery that I was using and after two years its kinda just evolved into what I’m currently working on. There’s so much that inspires me: music primarily (any genre), microscopic or electron microscope images of whatever, computer generated sound waves, architectural model’s the list goes on and on.
Milk Art asked the typical who would you have to dinner, and how would you explain your work to them questions. Thankfully, they managed to peak our interest by asking Charles to describe his dream studio:
I’d explain to them that my work not only explores basic design with color, composition, scale, and form but it also explores the idea of the audience and what their role is with each piece. Since my work protrudes from the wall engaging the x, y, and z axis I have to be more aware and attentive to how things are constructed and how they are viewed from every angle. Since there is no frame blocking the viewer from the work, I also engage the viewer’s innate desire to touch and explore the surface of an object. As for the concept behind the work I have created a viral like environment that creeps and grows across its surface. The world is loosely based on the idea of musical sound waves radiating from a central point growing infinitely within its environment. Upon viewing this world one might question whether or not we are voyeurs into this world or if this world is voyeuristically invading our own.
Be sure to check out the full interview, as well as more of Paper Extravaganza‘s work via his portfolio.