Christina Lihan Paper Buildings

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create architectural sculptures using paper as my medium. Using an X-Acto knife I carve, cut, score, bend and fold layers and layers of watercolor paper. All created by hand, I abstract facades that come alive with shadows, texture, light and details. My pieces are all white, accentuating the depth I create with the perspective. My aim is to show architecture as art, to display a structure from a different viewpoint, and to allow the viewer to explore a place with me. I peel away the structure of a skyscraper, painstakingly carve the details of a beaux-arts cornice, and explore the proportions of a classical facade.

Without my education as an architect my work would not be possible. My love for architecture informs my work, helps me to see buildings and built places in such a way that enable me to make my pieces. My work is very detailed, requiring a lot of patience. This patience was learned at an early age from competitive swimming. Growing up in South Florida swimming was my world until 21 yrs old. Being nationally ranked, I knew the patience involved in the grueling training, the motivation day in and day out, the singular focus that swimming taught me. I now bring those qualities into my artwork. 

One theme I would like to explore is the collision of architecture and nature. I love seeing an old building being taken over by roots of towering trees as at Ankor Wat, or the city of Petra built into the desert rock. Another equally interesting subject which I have begun to explore, is industrial structures, their austerity and minimalism truly defines the phrase “form follows function”. 

Christina Lihan