Paper-craft Research: Hari & Deepti

I have never really heard of paper craft artists until this assignment, which is wild because there seems to be such a vast community of artists dedicated to creating art with their medium solely being paper. To me, it feels like the saying "thinking outside the box" or in this sense the paper because to me paper has always been a medium that artists create on. The artists that I have chosen, Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker, are, ironically, thinking outside the box by thinking inside it.

"Deepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker (known collectively as Hari & Deepti) are an artist couple who create paper cut light boxes" (https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/illuminated-cut-paper-light-boxes-by-hari-deepti/). Their purpose behind their collaborative art is to create a world of their own, transporting viewers into that world giving the feeling like they are a part of that piece. Deepti has more of a classical art style, whereas Hari describes himself as having "a more minimalist approach to design" (Hari & Deepti, 1:41), and they combined both of their worlds creating a completely new world. I feel that connecting with their audience on an interactive level, really makes the viewers experience that much more memorable and impactful. A really good example of their work that exemplifies this is the piece that they did for Pure Leaf. They were asked to show the process of how the tea is made, and they came up with this, the piece above (https://youtu.be/r9HHDju5aJc?t=1332). Hari & Deepti took a simple process and created a world and deeper story for that process. The way I see it this world is sitting in the bottle of tea, ready for drinking, as if the consumer is drinking this story.

 

From the WIP Session Talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9HHDju5aJc) that I watched, it is made clear by the couple that their influence and inspiration comes from anything and everything in their life from places they have visited; to music that they listen to; movies that they have watched; books they have read; everything. A quote that they both resonate with by Newton is "if I have seen further than others it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants" the message they take away from that in regards to their work, is that everything that they do in their art has already been in existence, they are utilizing everything that they know into creating these smaller worlds out of paper. The photo above is Hari & Deepti's interpretation of a photo they took at a lava field in Iceland. In the video, Hari said they that everywhere they would go they "started seeing everything in layers because they work with layers of paper" as if they were able to deconstruct the real world in order to make the layers of their created world. 

I believe that many artists strive to bring their viewers into their world, a world that they have created, sometimes a visual representation of what is going on in their mind. I know for me as a photographer that is my goal. I strive to take my audience on a journey through a viewing path filled layers and personality; giving them the sense that they know the story or message of what is shot, while also allowing their mind to wander with their own interpretations, creating an even longer-lasting connection, solidifying my art within them. I want them to feel like they are the ones that captured the picture, or feel like they are in the photo themselves, putting them into my shoes and feeling what I feel. Connections like these really allow your audience to get to know you on a personal level without having to even talk face to face, kind of a visual language. This also seems to be the mindset that Hari & Deepti give off; the connection with each other thru this visual language and in turn, connect with their audience with their collaboration of ideas. 

They inspire me because of the depth of their work, both physically and through their actual message. The lightboxes that they create have literal depth, emphasizing the point of being its own world; as well as giving depth thru the messages or feeling they are trying to envoke. This really inspires me because it shows how much work and thought goes into every single piece. Another thing that I really love is that since they are papercraft artists, they mould and craft all these pieces, creating all of these worlds with their hands, it's a very hands-on process which is something that I really admire.  In photography I love artist that actually put meaning and thought behind their photos, there are a bunch of people who shoot photos just to shoot them with no deeper message or feelings behind the piece, more so just "it looked cool so I took a picture and slapped an edit on it", I don't resonate as well with work like that. I like getting to dig and take apart the piece seeing how it all came into being, the thoughts, feelings, messages that are being said thru this frozen moment in time. Hari & Deepti definitely put this vast amount of thought into their work, and it can be seen through their finished work. Even before doing research about them, basing off of the work that I saw, I could already tell that they had the depth to their work.

- Brandon