sourabh gupta crafts delicate lifelike flower sculptures from paper

new york-based artist sourabh gupta crafts intricate flower sculptures that look just like the real thing. from his studio in harlem, gupta uses tweezers and a magnifying glass to create detailed replicas of daisies, roses and hollyhock.

images courtesy of sourabh gupta

the interdisciplinary artist fashions stems from paper towels before wrapping paper around various other everyday materials. once he has formed the basic flower shape, he tints each bloom by hand with food coloring, sculpting it to look as lifelike as possible.

gupta studied architecture in india before attending a scholarship from parsons school of design, which brought him to new york. aside from that, gupta is mostly self-taught, his ability to ‘craft something from nothing’ being a skill he nurtured from a young age.

‘as a child, I lived in a one-room house with no windows,’ he says. ‘I was driven to make it a ‘home’ by decorating it with any materials I could find from shoe polish lids, barbed wire, tires, paper, etc. the approach that grew out of this was that ‘everything is enough.’

‘I developed an ability to see the potential in any material and see how I could make it into something greater than it’s parts. my original tools where kitchen forks and made of out of construction wire. ground flower seeds were my paint, my paint brushes were made from miswak (a local tree) twigs that my grandfather taught me how to use.’

not just confined to his apartment, picks from his flower garden have also made their way down the red carpet. in may, his work was used as embellishment on the fashion designer tory burch’s gown at the costume institute’s annual gala, which had the befitting theme of ‘camp’. right now, according to a recent interview with the new york times, gupta is working on a collection of plants native to new york state for a show at the bolton historical museum but wants to return to a more holistic creative practice when he has more space.

project info

artist: sourabh gupta

project: paper flowers