Rob Ryan – Paper Cuts

[‘Your Song Was my Song’ (2013), Hand-cut Paper, 610mm x 645mm]

This monotone image is a hand made paper cut, with a high level of delicate detail. The background of this paper cut show elements the night’s sky mainly glowing stars and patterns of large flights of birds. This background has a higher amount of black space than the foreground interest that successfully separates the two sections. The black paper is used in different ways to create shape, in some cases the image is cut out and in other areas the image is left from the background cut out. The decorative border adds an aspect of elegance to the image; these small delicate details show the skill and a steady hand is needed. This paper cut includes many different techniques with repetition, scale, and transformation.

[‘The Word on the Street’ (2013), Stylist, 200th Issue, Hand-cut Paper]

This image uses a bright background colour to bring out the detail in this white paper cut. The paper cut casts some dark shadows on this image giving it a three dimensional appearance and adding a third tone of colour onto the work. This paper cut has been carefully engineered to allow each section to be contacting resulting in one full image. The text in this image reflects the style of loose handwriting; it is fluid and easy to read showing characteristics of a child’s writing. The two birds and flowered stems provide a frame of decoration around the text, giving a context to the words.