Wreath Interpretations Exhibit is an annual holiday tradition at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. The exhibition is organized by NYC Parks and many of the wreaths are for sale and a percentage of sales support the Arsenal gallery and Parks’ public art programming. The Arsenal Gallery is dedicated to examining themes of nature, urban space, wildlife, New York City parks and park history.
I have never heard about this annual gallery exhibition until one of my coworker send an email to me and the other coworkers at the studio stating that her art piece is on the display at the Arsenal gallery for the Wreath interpretation Exhibit which will be available to the public from December 7, 2016 – January 5, 2017 and inviting us to the Artist Reception of the Wreath Interpretations at December 6.
My coworker Mayuko Fujino is a self-taught papercut artist from Tokyo currently based in New York City. Inspired by Japanese traditional stencil textile designs, she has been practicing her art since 1999 and takes a new approach to paper cutout technique by combining it with used magazine collage and other used/found materials. Her works have been exhibited internationally at locations such as SOFA Art Fair New York, Pulse Art Fair Los Angeles, and UAMO Art Festival, Munich, Germany, and featured in a book which introduces 25 of the world’s top papercraft illustrators written and compiled by noted papercraft illustrator Owen Gildersleeve entitled Paper Cut: An Exploration Into the Contemporary World of Papercraft Art and Illustration. She has worked on art commissioned by clients including New York City’s Department of Transportation, Nokia, Panasonic, Condé Nast, and WFMU Radio. *Stated from her website
Close up look of her encaustic + paper cutout wreath
I like how she used 2d object such as a paper and made it go together with other 3d objects such as the shells, wood and made it work together to make an art piece that is both visually pleasing and has a lot of details and a meaning behind which will interpret differently from a person to person . The paper cutout is cut very precise and looks almost like machine cut.
I haven’t been to a gallery before nonetheless an artist reception, the place looked very festive as Christmas was near and all the artist that provided the art piece for the gallery are present at the gallery. The gallery was fill with family members and colleagues of the artist drinking and enjoying company while looking at each others art piece and talking about it and giving it their own interpretation of what the artist meant.
Other than the art piece by my coworker these top two are my favorite from the gallery. The first art piece is a done by Paul Aaron Johnson and he used archival digital pigmented ink print with lenticular lens sheet. It is a very big flat piece but it’s more 3d when viewed from side to side. I like the used of the color and the lenticular lens sheet used it look 3d while being 2d, and I like the use of bright color which makes the 3d effect pop up even more.
I also like the second art piece as how very detailed it is. I like the use of the negative save which gives the arts its own shape. There is not much color used in this art piece but I like its minimalistic approach to the color.
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