Is Origami Fine Art?
Is origami Fine Art? The quick answer is ‘yes and no’.! There are many different types of origami -- one type is good to teach to children, another is good to entertain people, another is good to decorate the house or table, another is good to explain principles of mathematics, etc, etc. I don’t think these types of origami are ‘art’, though they may be well made, beautiful and interesting. I think they are ‘models’. For me, origami art exists in 2 ways: 1. Context. I know fine artists who have made exhibitions of Waterbombs, cranes, the newspaper sailboat and other origami models (yes, I used the word ‘models’!). By themselves, these models are not art …but they BECOME art because of the CONTEXT in which they are exhibited. For example, a German artist makes framed pictures containing sometimes 100’s of tiny newspaper sailboats in many colours, or just one colour. They are glued in deliberately banal patterns as a comment on the intellectual stupidity of repetitious labour. Another example: a British artist made 1000 cranes and pushed them tightly together in a metal wire birdcage as a statement about liberty and loss of freedom. I like Florence Temko’s comment to me in a private letter about 10 years ago: that origami will become art when people stop asking ‘how’ and start asking ‘why’. 2. A unique technique, unique touch and a unique vision. I think there are a small number of origami creators whose work is unique and which cannot be reproduced WELL by anyone. These artists are Jean-Claude Correia, Vincent Floderer, Eric Joisel and Akira Yoshizawa (though I’m not sure Yoshizawa would understand the concept of ‘art’ or ‘artist’ in the same as we do in the West). On a good day, I would include myself on this list. There are other creators whose work is beautiful, but they are what I call ‘artistic modelmakers’. I would include creators such as LaFosse, Lang, Fuse and Palmer in this list. The work of the origami artists has a high level technical mastery, BUT this mastery is always used to express an emotion or an idea – as with all artists, technique is a servant, not a master. However, for most origami creators, technique is the master. I don’t think that making a complex model in a good paper automatically makes it a work of art. I am NOT suggesting that the work of the origami artists is better than the work of other creators – everyone enjoys origami in different ways, and this is right and good. However, personally, I am fascinated by the work of the ‘artists’ more than I’m fascinated by the work of the ‘model makers’. This is a very old topic in origami, and everyone has their own opinion. This has been my opinion!! Now give us your opinion. Paul Jackson www.origami-artist.com
