Peter Gentenaar – Floating Paper Sculptures
Peter Gentenaar is a paper artist based in the Netherlands. He explores the sculptural potential of paper by reinventing it and turning it away from its daily use as a flat material. The amorphous floating sculptures recall vastly magnified organic forms, and bring the structures of petals and cocoons to mind. Using a process that has taken him years to perfect, Gentenaar uses paper pulp and bamboo ribs to create his large-scale paper installations. He eventually refined the process to a point where he could more accurately control the shrinkage of the paper pulp, and its translation into a final sculpture. He even designed and built his own paper beater, which he not only continues to use in his own art, but which is now used by people around the world. Years of research and perfecting the process has given Gentenaar a deep understanding of the paper-making process, and he explains, “at the basis of all my forms remains the nature of the pulp. Pulp making is my real art”. The drying process the pulp goes through means the paper shrinks, and by controlling this Gentenaar controls the final appearance of the sculpture.