Woven Newspaper Portraits by Gugger Petter
Newspaper Portraits by Gugger Petter
Danish artist Gugger Petter studied in the Academy of Fine Art. She then moved to an extended residence in Mexico City, where she created large textile wall pieces for corporate venues and private collectors. In Belgium she created work for museum exhibitions. And after arriving to California in 1986, she started working with newspaper and three dimensional forms. Using a special weaving technique, she’s able to take fragile newspapers and turned them into beautiful portraits.
“The most difficult things working with newspaper, is actually what makes this material most interesting to me,” Gugger Petter says. “I have always been inspired by challenge, so when I decided to work with newspaper, it was in fact due to the limitations or difficulty this material presented – both in regard to color palette and fragility.
”My manipulation of the tubes makes my work very strong, and the color limitation is a challenge that inspires me for each work I create. If I one day no longer find newspaper challenging as a work material, I would no longer work with it. But so far I am very inspired by newspaper. Furthermore, I also love the information aspect and importance of newspaper.”
Although my work is constructed by weaving, it holds no intended connection to this tradition, and is only used as a constructive tool. The weaving technique permits me to create the desired heavy textured structure – a surface of controlled chaos which I often treat as a canvas by applying paint to the finished surface.
Woven Newspaper Portraits by Gugger Petter
