Billowing paper sculptures by Peter Gentenaar

Netherland-based artist Peter Gentenaar creates billowing paper sculptures that are born out of what he couldn’t do with commercial paper. As a printmaker, Gentenaar’s search for a better type of paper led him to an unexpected process of creating his own custom beater that processes and mills long-fiber paper pulp into the material he now uses in his artwork. “My sculptures start as totally 2-dimensional,” says Gentenaar, describing the process in which his organic forms come to life. As the wet pulp dries around the bamboo framework it begins to shrink and curl. The resulting sculptures, massive, yet delicate seem to resemble underwater organisms gracefully floating in water. The pieces are then suspended in mid-air in sprawling spaces like churches.