Some of the greatest things we’ve ever laid our eyes on are the things that take some very long hours as the inventor or designer painstakingly sits to perfect their work. This artist named Lala Abaddon falls beneath this category of patient creators as she hand weaved paper for hours to create optically intricate artworks that may appear to be some sort of digital manipulation.
While some other artist will call a painting complete once they are finished with including all the elements of the picture by painting, Abaddon uses her complete painting or large-scaled photographs and meticulously slices the paper into strips. Combining fine art and her craft, pieces done by the Brooklyn-based artist will appear to be pixilated manipulations, but are in fact the results of hardworking hands and an impeccable understanding of spatial relations.
Thanks to the optical trickery caused by the vibrating edge of contrasting colors, Abaddon’s paper works buzz with movement although they are flat. The rarefied pieces begin simply as paintings, paper and 35mm photographs. Abaddon having the innate capability of fusing imagery together to make an entirely new, cohesive piece, then uses each image itself as a medium.
Prior to the weaving process, the artist slices the source photos into tiny equally spaced strips, using traditional weaving techniques. As tape holds the pieces together, Abaddon works her way with the strips of papers weaving them together and ensuring that they are tight enough to hold as she goes along. She weaves detailed and varying patterns into each piece with precision, all the while keeping perfect spatial arrangement as if in a textile.
The resulting image though flat creates incredible dimensions with colorful prints. To allow viewers to see evidence of her handiwork, the pieces are then framed with edges showing. Her new collection of pieces, called Fractal Realities, will be showcased at the Cator Gallery in New York from February 26 – March 29, 2015.
Check out Lala Abaddon’s website here.
