13 Desire for the open, time disappears

24 07 > 02 10 2021
Peter Gentenaar en Pat Torley

As pioneers in the 1970s, Peter Gentenaar and Pat Torley explored every way to make art with their own handmade paper. Each developed a unique technique. Peter’s work became entirely three-dimensional after years of experimentation, and Pat’s work culminated in paintings made from paper pulp.

Peter’s now world-famous sculptures begin as a flat frame on a vacuum table. He mimics the veins of a leaf or uses simpler forms. These forms show the effect of shrinkage forces in a very expressive way. To make paper pulp, he has developed his own fiber grinder. After a pulp has been ground from flax fibers and color pigments, it can be poured. After vacuuming and drying the pulp, a paper sculpture slowly emerges. For this exhibition, Peter created relatively small objects, usually the works are large, to form into groups in architectural settings.

American Pat began her work with fibers as a weaver and created experimental textile art, of which there are quite a few works in this exhibition. She studied at the California Collage of Arts, where she also met Peter. Infected by Peter’s “paper fever”, she began using paper pulp in her weavings. Eventually the paper took over and she developed a new technique of working with paper fibers. Layer by layer, different types and colors of aqueous pulp are laid on top of each other from front to back. The final image only becomes visible when the entire work is finished and can be turned over. Her inspiration often comes from seemingly inconspicuous places in nature and her garden.