‘maratonman’ by kuin heuff, 2012 110 x 80cm all images courtesy the artist

dutch artist kuin heuff has created several new cut-paper portraits. the faces of her subjects seem to be an assemblage of strategic lines or formed from lace– their intricate forms seem to recall the shapes typical to woodcut stencils. these works are created by heuff painting with acrylic. the artist says of her process to designboom, ‘when I have finished painting, then I study the structure and the layers of the paint I have put on to each other in several layers and directions. this leads my to what I cut away and what I leave uncut. actually, the process of cutting is like painting but when painting I keep adjusting material to the portrait and cutting is a sort of painting I keep building up the portrait only in then by reducing material until the portrait is finished‘. the two dimensional works have an almost sculptural quality as the piece has been given greater depth and complexity in the added cut lines.  

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff ‘sanne bleekendaal’, 2012 70 x 45cm

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff ‘hong seng yap’, 2012 60 x 40cm

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff ‘sofie bernhagen’, 2012 75 x 45cm

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff ‘greta’, 2012 60 x 50cm

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff ‘nicolette’, 2012 60 x 40 cm

cut canvas portraits by kuin heuff detailed view of nicolette