| Charlotte McGowan-Griffin’s large format paper cuts have come to transcend the page as she explores the 3 dimensional space of large, room-filling installations. The dualism of the classic silhouette paper cut, the contrast of light/dark, positive/negative, inside/outside, hidden/exposed are used not to cut a picture out of the paper’s surface but rather to reveal a fleeting moment of conscious and subconscious thoughts, memories, language and the complexity of literary stories. Her work is based on the European and Japanese tradition of paper cuts, including extremely fine and detailed pieces. However in her more recent work she attacks the papera surface with such zest that she moves away from the beloved and idyllic of the forms tradition and rather moves towards the massive and sublime. Charlotte thus achieves, through shadow play, choice of black &/or white, an overwhelming spatial–sculptural effect. |
