10 Questions with Ray Besserdin

Ray Besserdin has established a 32-year career that is recognised internationally with over 35 awards to date, including two gold from New York, and a “Gold Medal for Creativity” from Mondial Art Academia, France.  Born to artist parents, Ray’s techniques are entirely self-taught.  He sculptures artworks dimensionally much like bas-reliefs working with “a palette of sheet-formed papers” that offer a wide spectrum of colours, textures, solidity, and delicate translucency. The stocks are mostly mould-made or handmade cotton, mulberry (Kozo), hemp and flax stocks from Europe and Asia.

Works range from miniature to over 6 by 3.8 metres and vary from abstract to ultra-realistic. Inspired by painters of the French Impressionist Period, Ray pioneered and developed a technique to achieve their kind of aesthetic expression using sculptured torn papers three-dimensionally, where they used paint two- dimensionally. This “Impressionist Sculptured Paper” is what he considers his signature style.  Its focus is to capture emotion, life, and expression over realism using torn, raw pieces arranged into the likeness of the subject yet always revealing the character and nature of the papers from which the subjects are created. Nature is his favourite subject matter. Works hang in private and corporate collections in London, Munich, Manhattan, Tokyo, New Zealand and throughout Australia. 

Ray is Australian Ambassador for Mondial Art Academia, France. 

papersculptureartist.com | @papersculptureartist

INTERVIEW

First of all, you come from a family of artists, so you must have been familiar with art since an early age. When did you first decide to become an artist yourself? And what inspired you to pursue this career? 

My parents were both very accomplished and active artists.  My mother’s work was very versatile, and her vast output included hundreds of Indian ink drawings and aquarelle paintings of historic buildings and town settings that will be the subject of a dedicated book I’m very soon to publish. My father was both wood sculptor and exceptional portrait oil painter, while he earned the keep for our family of six as a mechanical design engineer in which he trained, besides art.  Both have long since passed away, but the influence of being born and growing up in their midst made becoming an artist very natural.  Though none of my sibs did the same, I always got extremely excited with the possibilities of things I could draw, paint, or make with every sheet of paper I got my hands on.  However, our house was always full of books on every subject, so from what was there, I developed a deep interest in science from as far back as I can remember.  The nature of the universe, especially living things and insects fascinated me.  Despite the fulfilment of my undergraduate years in biological sciences while in my early 20’s, it was clear by final year that my heart belonged to art.  
The inspiration for paper sculpture arose from those childhood years thanks to books my parents gave me with parts to pop out, fold and join for making models like cars and trains.  Already by the time I was around five or six, I started creating and making my own things, while my fascination for paper grew.  Eventually, by my early 30’s I had a vision seeded by those beginnings and created my first paper sculpture.  It was a sculptural artwork that stood out in 3D and would be an epiphany, clearly revealing the way forward: creating artworks sculptured like bas-reliefs from all sorts of papers, with a focus on expressing my passion for nature.  Mind you, the science background still serves as a valuable tool for probing materials, deciding optimal working methods, and ensuring the highest archival outcomes.  

What is your personal aim as an artist? And how has it evolved over the years?

Paper is a medium of considerable nobility in my view. Its history goes back to possibly well before eighth century BC China, followed by Japan around 610AD before coming to Spain and Europe about 1036AD.  Little wonder that for centuries art on paper has persisted as one of the most respected throughout Asia.   
Even with that history, there’s always room for new developments and discoveries.  It’s a core aim with my work in sculptured paper, therefore, to further pioneer ways to use and reveal its endless capacity for artistic expression.  It demands that I constantly imagine new ways to work the material, trying new expressionistic, stylistic, and sculptural techniques.  The evolutionary pathway is one in which I like to constantly assert and reveals the nature of the papers for all their delicate translucence, natural colours, textures, and opacities while developing new directions of expression.  All this in three dimensions using a multitude of paper varieties as my palette.  One example of this evolution can be seen looking at my earliest works where I created them from hard edged cut segments of paper before they were shaped into their dimensional forms.  Nowadays, that remains an option, but I’ve developed what’s a philosophy, a style and technique I call “Impressionist Sculptured Paper”, for the influence drawn from the early French painters of that genre.  The paper segments I sculpt are not firstly cut to shape but rather torn.  It softens elements, gives them a less static, time frozen edge and focusses more on the essential life of the subject without being cramped by realistic representation, as much as I am well capable of indulging in the latter.  I feel this evolution of my sculptures is my most effective synthesis so far, espousing the fabric of the art while speaking more directly and immediately to the emotions of viewers, leaving room for their imagination.   I’m keen to see where this’ll further evolve.

You already have a long career, spanning over 30 years. How would you define yourself as an artist?

While I’ve experimented with lots of different art media and directions all my life, the day I created that first little paper sculpture I became obsessed with where this humble beginning could lead, and if one thing ever defined my life’s trajectory, and reflects who I am as an artist today, that was the moment.  
I’ve always had an adventurous spirit and I believe as an artist it’s that part of me, that has drawn me inexorably to dedicate 30+ years to my paper sculpture.  With no pre-existing guide, visualising how to technically solve the challenge of expressing myself in my defining art holds me intensely to every piece I create.  Not only is it a boundless field for exploring ideas ranging from nature to portraiture, but from abstract to imaginary, stylised to realistic; small to huge, wall mounted or free-standing, and coloured versus shades of white.  Beyond the visual concepts, every piece I create necessitates a great deal of innovation, meaning experimental adventures.  What papers to use for what best effect and trialling each choice for its capability to sculpt the forms I want before deciding which one to use, where and how.  In sum, I see myself as an artist exploring, revealing, and pioneering sculptural art in what I contend is a remarkable medium of outstanding capabilities. 

You have an interesting background and career, with many different experiences and awards. Does it influence your work? And where else do you get inspiration from for your work?

From one perspective, my background has helped build a varied foundation of skills, knowledge, and experiences which invariably influence and inspire every decision.  Growing up in an artist family, developing good drawing skills along with all the different stints in other art forms allows me to express my ideas on paper with a totally free hand of imagination.  It would have been a different outcome today if I didn’t have that past.  Perhaps I wouldn’t have even come up with my defining art.  In fact, even the chemistry I took in my undergrad years has given me a power for solving technical challenges to my visual concepts, such that, I might have otherwise decided it’s all too hard, and gone another direction.  
As for the many awards, these are a great way to receive feedback from respected peers and critics.  They’re very inspirational for continuing my pathway to constantly strive for something new and innovative.  
My biggest inspiration, however, comes from nature.  In saying that, humanity is a very special part of nature, so I also like to include human content where it suits.  For example, one of my favourite commission works is a blend of nature objects like leaves and feathers, where I modelled my own hands circling the globe with my home continent Australia featured in the middle of a piece called “Flowing Synthesis”.  It has moved viewers quite literally to tears of emotion.  The inspiration came from my love of the expressiveness of hands.  We use them to communicate in so many ways and they became the central feature again later in “Endeavour’s Hands”.  Probably because we best relate to subjects with, and of ourselves, that both these pieces have been amongst my most highly acclaimed.  The inspiration of combining human figures with nature elements, taken further than just hands, is the current subject of a new body of work underway.  Essentially, my inspiration is what makes me happy and excited about being alive, and I like to express my love of the beauty of all things nature, putting it out there for others to reflect on, experience and enjoy. 

What is your creative process like? And how did you evolve this way of working?

Often a concept just hits me in a flash.  Even then, I get the ideas onto paper with quick thumbnail drawings and steadily refine them, reviewing them over and over until I get excited that it’s right.  It always starts with a well worked drawing.
Next, I make a transparency of that drawing for my overhead projector, scale it the right size on my wall and trace the projection onto a large sheet of paper.  This acts as my template for creating each individual element while the projector also aids in assembling the elements in their intended place without redrawing on the background panel.  This is usually a large sheet of cotton art paper bonded to plywood acting as my version of a canvas, if you like.  I then pre-shape pieces of paper to sculpt into the various elements by different hand pressing techniques, using a little moisture to help. Most of my tools are shared with clay sculptors.  These individually sculptured elements are then assembled on the backing board with special adhesives that vary depending on the type of paper, and function within the total work.  
I only work with sheet formed paper. It’s not papier maché and not cast pulp.  It’s important to me to preserve and exhibit the integrity of the beautiful paper sheets in every element of my work.  This also is where the greatest evolution came in my work:  How do I shape a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional form when it fundamentally only wants to bend, curve, crease, or fold in one direction at a time?  In sum, I had to discover what different kinds of papers do, like the difference between machine made, mould-made and handmade papers, how their fibre compositions and origin affect my sculpting efforts.  They all have their application, but machine-made papers are least usable while handmade mulberry varieties the most workable. 

Papers do not only have vast structural differences that predict distinct working outcomes they also vary in tone, colour, and surface texture.  Within a batch of “white” paper, for example, is a considerable range from brilliant white to quite creamy and even beige.  I make my selections based on how suitable the colour is within the composition and then if its structure and weight will allow the degree of sculpture I want.  At times I like adding colour enhancements, but only with permanent ink washes almost like dying the papers.  Most works take between three to six weeks based on being about a metre square with the sort of detail you see in my botanical works.  Works are then encased in either box frames or five sided acrylic cases where it better serves to view the art from all angles.  
So, all my work begins with a visual concept, lots of drawings, paper choices based on what looks good, testing and experimenting, and lots of persistence and patience. 

Your pieces are very detailed and rich in different elements. What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

My greatest attention is to the much broader foundations of each piece.  There is often an energetic and visual flow or motion in my work that transports your eye from one area to another and back.  Another characteristic, if you look closely, is a transitional morphing of one element into another.  This is something easily done with drawing and painting but provides some challenges when working with solid materials.  To achieve it I create shapes that morph stepwise or through translucent layers across the span of change.  It creates dynamic flows everywhere, blending one element into another so there aren’t sharp, irritating cuts between them.  I love having some motion.  Details are something that most people zero in on and frequently comment on in my work, but curiously I’m more concerned with the above-mentioned compositional, energetic flow and overall integrity of the elements before being concerned with details.  Perhaps it’s the success of that, that subconsciously allows viewers the ease of mind to just enjoy studying the detail within the motion and many layers.  Mind you, I do love detail.   

Is there a piece you consider a “breakthrough” in your career? 

I always sought to make a quantum leap from one piece to the other.  Of course, from that first little piece I started with, every piece thereafter was pretty much a big leap from the one before it.  In the early days, solving the technical issues to meet the demands of my aesthetic wishes was very challenging.  Then, a true “breakthrough” in many ways happened when I created “Flowing Synthesis” for a major bank-owned building foyer in 1998.  This piece leapt from the more usual representational nature work, modestly sized around 30cm x 40cm, into a composition of dynamic semi-abstract, free flowing creativity at a sizable 200cm high x 300cm long.  It was also the first piece to push me into serious exploration of handmade paper varieties for which I evolved whole new sculptural techniques on account of their uniquely different behaviours.  These papers further brought significant archival improvements.  It won several awards including Gold at the New York Dimensional Awards Show 1998 and-a-half-page article on page 6 of “The Age”, one of Australia’s largest daily papers. Twenty-four years later it doesn’t look a day older.  

What do you think about the art community and market? And how did your perception change over the last couple of years due to the pandemic?

I’ve been fortunate over the years to be mostly engaged through private and corporate commissions.  I was delighted to become part of Mondial Art Academia of France, a truly supportive great community of very talented artists from around the world, who’s competitions I love to enter.   I accepted the role as their Australian ambassador several years ago too.  Besides that, I’m a member of the Victorian Artist’s Society, one of our oldest societies where my parents were members back in the 1970s.   As for the art market in general, my only thought is that you must know where your work belongs to exhibit it to best effect, and that applies to online galleries as much as physical ones.  
I generally prefer to move on through “world affairs” whatever they may be, and while there are artists who wish to express reactions to current events, I’m generally not one to do so.  The present is no exception to my perception.  I do, however, react now and then to a specific ongoing affair that triggers me into a statement artwork.  Two recent examples include “Little Girl Torn” created to bring attention to the extraordinary level at which young girls of indigenous communities are being driven to take their lives, and “A Call to Change” bringing focus to the decline of insects worldwide for perhaps the last 50 years, exemplified by the disappearance of our once, very common and beautiful Christmas Beetles.
As an artist, I prefer to bring images of inspiration and beauty to lift spirits no matter what affects us at present from outside our control.  There are always ups and downs, but through it all there must be a light of hope and faith in the good, and all things beautiful in life.  

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

Notwithstanding commissions putting my personal project schedules on hold, I’ve begun work on a series of concepts I’ve tentatively called “Portraits of Nature’s Feminine”.  There will be about twelve in total with about eight rough drawings so far awaiting development, and one piece already begun.  They resulted from a growing wish to create works expressing the relationship of humans with nature, but these ones are to specifically show our spiritual connection, which I believe are essentially feminine energies flowing from ‘Mother Earth’.  Our modern age is driving a sense of spiritual discord and rise above nature based on our technology and physical separation, but it’s not what I deem holistically fitting to our true wellbeing.  Most of us get a sense of nurturing spiritual bond with nature when we visit wild places, stand by the sea, and even just lie under a tree in a park within our increasingly manic cities.  Therefore, the human component of these works is a blending of women’s portraits emerging to reveal the divine feminine energy I see intrinsic in the elements of nature I depict, each bonding all humanity and the universe.  It will be of ethereal beauty and technically intense, because of the extreme difficulty sculpting some of the delicate papers I’ve chosen.  Like no work before, this collection combines so much about my views of life and personal passions that I can’t describe my excitement with it.  The first piece, all going to plan will be finished in a few weeks.

And lastly, what is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?

Follow your heart and your passion.  Be genuine and authentic to yourself and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Believe in your ideas, just persist against all odds to find the way to express them in a manner that is entirely yours, and never give up!