“Art has always been a form of escape and survival for me,” says 3D paper collage artist Paola Bazz.
Paola Bazz is an Italian-born 3D paper collage artist. In a world ridden with so many irregularities, Paula’s artistry constantly reminds her there’s still beauty and existential worthiness in life. She’s always been a firm believer in “looking beyond the obvious”, which formulates her artistic journey.
Art to Paola has always been a medium to access peace. Though this sentimental attachment to art could have been enough to make her an exceptional artist, she had other inspirations. As a child, she watched her grandmother and her mother transform several mundane materials into exciting toys for her to play with. Her father, on the other hand, exposed her to the joy of manual work while her grandfather cemented her artistry through his paintings and drawings.
3D Paper Collage Artist Creates Art Pieces From Pieces Of Paper
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The Artistic process of 3D paper collage
“I work with paper. More precisely I repurpose paper from magazines, books, catalogs, and so on,” says Paola. “Paper is a very interesting and complex material in itself, but it becomes more intriguing when printed, as it turns into a binder of messages.” Paola narrates how a 3D paper collage might appear easy to recreate despite the thorough creativity it demands.
Architecture and paper collage
After practicing architecture for 20 years, it became natural for her to always plan her works before execution. “I have developed different techniques and I like to choose the one that intuitively attracts me at that moment, to balance the other very rational approach to planning,” she says.
Much of her work involves the concertinas technique — where printed papers are cut into strips. These strips are selected considering the color, graphics, and images printed on them. Afterward, they are folded into small (2×2 cm) medium (4×4 cm) or large (6×6 cm) squares. These concertinas serve as pixels in the creation of an image where every square contributes to the bigger picture, simultaneously retaining its individuality and printed information.
Photo credit: Radka Dolinksa
Choosing the most suitable images
Her choice of people as subjects is aimed at the inadequacy of a portrait in describing a person. She says, “With an image, it is possible to fix only a fragment of the complex nature of someone’s identity.” This is what paper collage art fixes. With printed paper steeped with fragmented messages, the complex, fragile and ungraspable nature of someone’s identity is duly represented.
{ Gorgeous Minimalistic Paper Wall Art by Olga Skorokhod }
From a closer view, her works become abstract compositions that compel the viewer to see beyond the obvious. Through this, she raises awareness concerning issues related to our environment, our privacy, and the complex notion of time.
Artistic influences
Though she grew up in an artistic family, Paola credits her art teacher in middle school for helping her nurture her passion for drawing. Paola says this teacher encouraged her pursuit of art despite her parent’s protest for her to tread a different path. Also, she referenced her career in architecture as a great influence on her art where she learned different techniques that have developed her artistry over the years.
Personal philosophy
“As humans, we are happy when we can play and hear stories,” she says. “Even as adults we don’t work, we play. We have a job when we are doing something that we can’t perceive as a game. We get bored when we hear something that is not a good story. We can learn only from a good storyteller.”
To see Paola’s latest artwork, visit Saatchi Art >
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