This project in my practice stemmed from a material experiment that I did for The Eyes of the River. In the experiment, I layered the materials creating 3D, which had always been brought up in the past in relation to my work and I had put it aside due to logistics and aesthetics. Although I went with a different approach for The Eyes of the River, I did once again bring up the idea of the 3D. Due to time constraints I knew that a full-blown relief project was not an option [but is in the making]. So, I chose origami, I knew that I could easily create 3D shapes and it would have the pattern element that I still wanted to retain by choosing patterned paper.

 

For this piece, I chose triangles as my base shape, it tessellates easily and would give the sharp lines and edges to contrast with the circular board. I wanted to explore the 3D element more and so I was using 4 different sizes of triangles and arranging some of them on their sides, so a different angled triangle would be made.

 

Tom Friedman used flattened origami, to create a flat surface which had the illusion of the 3D, and M.C. Escher used illusions on the flat plane to trick the eye into seeing 3D. Trompe l'oeil is common in this use to make an agreed illusion and to trick the viewer into seeing something they do not.

 

The work that I made using the origami, was itself an illusion. The paper used, from a distance does not look like paper. It looks softer than it is. From a distance, it also looks flat. The design on the board only revels itself once hung on the wall.

 

The paper used was patterned wrapping paper, not meant for origami, but it came in large format sheets which was useful for the larger triangles. I chose this paper because of the patterns and colours it used. It was not fabric like my normal work, but the colours were so vivid that it could have been. The patterns on the paper were also different to my fabric as they were minimalist patterns, with not much detail.

 

When doing, this work a consideration that I had was whether it would be hung on the wall or placed on the floor. This work I felt could have been place on the floor if it hand been bigger and so would have had larger triangles, but as it was, it would have been dwarfed on the grey expansive floor. The triangles were also too small for the floor as you should get rather close to see the patterns on the paper and realise the overall design. So, if on the floor you would have been crouched rather low.

 

Geometry is an integral part of my work and has been used by many artists before me in many different ways. Biggs and Collings with their constant repeating patterns, Bridget Riley with the never ending optical illusions. Although I had done the mirror, with the geometric pieces, this origami board was the return to it. I had had some time to try a non-geometric approach and was now returning to endless repetition and symmetry which intrigues me so much.