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      Sliced Slivers Emanate from Barbara Wildenboer’s Altered Books

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      “An African Survey.” All images © Barbara Wildenboer, shared with permission

      Sliced Slivers Emanate from Barbara Wildenboer’s Altered Books

      September 4, 2024

      Art Craft

      Jackie Andres

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      While heavy, hardcover reference books often embody prestige and historical value, the comprehensive volumes also carry an air of intellectual overload. Filled from cover to cover with extensive and complex concepts, the tomes beckon the Paradox of Knowledge, which states that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we actually know.

      This vexing liminal space between the known and unknown is a driving force for Barbara Wildenboer’s work. The Cape Town-based artist (previously) sources secondhand books that span a wide range of languages, worldviews, and subjects such as philosophy, art, history, music, biology, archaeology, and more. Fascinated by linguistics and systems of writing, Wildenboer aims to decode the ways that we assign meaning to symbols.

      “A World History of Art”

      Scalpel and scissors in hand, Wildenboer transforms countless book pages into narrow, capillary-like slivers that splay outward from the spine. Through these symmetrical sculptures, the artist references other naturally mirrored forms like the brain’s left and right hemispheres linked by the corpus callosum, the wingspan of the death’s-head hawkmoth, and the Rorshach inkblot.

      Wildenboer connects these formal qualities to the process of deciphering texts. Her biography notes, “she cuts through these dense and claustrophobic discourses, rendering them mute.” Instead, she alters books to the point that they’re no longer legible, transforming the once familiar characters into new glyphs.

      See more from the artist on her website and Instagram.

      “Genesis”

      “Cogito Ergo Sum” More

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      Katrine Hildebrandt Embraces Symmetry in Paper, Wire, and Reed

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      “EQUILIBRIUM” (2023), hand-burnt lines, indigo-dyed reed, and wire on paper, 30 1/4 x 44 inches. All images © Katrina Hildebrandt, shared with permission

      Katrine Hildebrandt Embraces Symmetry in Paper, Wire, and Reed

      September 4, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Katrine Hildebrandt is captivated by geometry and symmetry, drawing on mathematical or scientific diagrams as a starting point for her precise mixed-media compositions. “At the same time, I find beauty in imperfect, non-tangible, and fleeting moments,” she says. “I think my work blends the relationship between the controlled and wild.”

      The Boston-based artist employs natural materials like indigo dye, rattan, and pigmented fabrics. She also uses a wood-burning tool that sears lines into the surface, referencing the duality of permanence and impermanence. The work is “symmetrical yet not perfect,” she says.

      “REFLECTED RIPPLES” (2023), hand-burnt lines, reed, and wire on indigo-dyed paper,30 1/4 x 44 inches

      Hildebrandt creates color from natural sources, and while the dyes are as lightfast as possible, she embraces the inevitable changes due to time and the elements. “Nothing is permanent, nothing is perfect” she says, “life and the work is in constant flux.”

      Beginning each piece by loosely sketching compositions on paper, Hildebrandt intuitively selects the materials based on the color or texture she’d like to achieve. “I always leave room for play and interpretation throughout the entire process,” she says. With meticulous and methodical attention to detail, the artist starts in the center of the paper and works outward to map the composition, using repetition to create a sense of visual rhythm and harmony.

      With the help of her studio assistant, artist Ciara Scales, Hildebrandt is working toward a number of projects, including an exhibition with Uprise Art scheduled to open in June next year and SCOPE Art Fair in Miami this December with Soapbox Arts. If you’re in New York, you can also find her work presented by Uprise Art at Art on Paper this weekend.

      Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “MIRRORED RIPPLE” (2023), hand-burnt lines, reed, and wire on paper, 21 x 30 1/4 inches

      Detail of “MIRRORED RIPPLE”

      “DISTORT” (2023), hand-burnt lines and indigo ink on paper, 12 x 10 inches

      Detail of “EQUILIBRIUM”

      “DOUBLE VISION” (2023), hand-burnt lines, indigo ink, reed, and wire on paper, 12 x 10 inches

      Detail of “REFLECTED RIPPLES”

      “MIRROR” (2023), hand-burnt lines, indigo ink, reed, wire, and oak on paper, 10 x 12 inches

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