Katharina Hinsberg - works : B. Knaus Fine Art

Ajouré

… is the name she has given to a group of papercuts that she has been working on since 2006, perforating them in many places and making them look like fine lace. These are extremely fragile works, white on white and made of paper. Her astounding exactness can be explained by her use of a very pointed blade with the assistance of a magnifying glass. Under the knife, her material opens up almost to the point of being destroyed. The intricacy of her work which demands the highest degree of concentration is an attitude she takes to the limits of what is physically possible. When working in this way, Hinsberg completely blocks out her surroundings: “Everything around me appears to be focused on the place where I am cutting. As a result, I see the paper as a body and then the holes as permeable cells.” The cut surfaces are at different angles to one another depending on how the paper is rotated and the play of light and shade has varying effects. As with a picture puzzle, sometimes viewers see the positive shapes and sometimes the negative ones, depending on where they are standing and this means that the miniatures are like something precious and marvelous, something that cannot be comprehended in a single glance. More