hand-cut paper by carlo fantin unites religious art + social media culture

hand-cut paper by carlo fantin unites religious art + social media culture
all images courtesy of carlo fantin

using paper as an artistic medium, with its distinct delicacy and fragility, requires a meticulous attention to detail and an extremely steady hand. following experimentation in drawing, sculpting, ceramics, and painting, italian artist carlo fantin was drawn to paper, for its quotidian quality — physically — and metaphorically, its use in the literally field, to tell stories and relay scenes.

fantin has crafted a series of hand-cut paper compositions, each incomprehensible in their painstaking, almost lace-like quality. miniature apertures have been pierced into black, high quality, acid-free construction paper using only a craft knife, depicting a portrait through the interplay between negative and positive space. ‘I want people to have a physical relationship with my art that it is not just confined to the distance of their arms‘ fantin describes. ‘I want people to experience how the image changes as they walk away from it. at a very close look the piece seems to be abstract, when you step back the image comes to life.’ the series can be described by their synthesis of roman catholic religious iconography and symbols from today’s social media saturated culture. facebook, twitter and instagram logos are ‘tattooed’ onto the face and body of the virgin mary, etched with lines sourced from the bible.

‘virgin with facebook tattoos’
18″ x 12″, hand cut paper, 2014