Paper cutting inspired by Mathilde Nivet

Context

Mathilde Nivet is a French artist who works mainly with paper design. She has graduated as a textile designer who uses illustration in her work. She creates very detailed cut outs, in this case she has used typography which is in French it says “he who thinks little errs much”, and this is a quote said by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Meaning

There isn’t much information on this artists piece of work so is mostly my own opinion. The link between the pattern around the outside of the quote that has been cut and the quote itself does not link; it doesn’t seem to have any type of theme to me. The quote is basically saying the people who do not think a lot in the first place will always be pausing for thought, what they want will not come to them naturally. There is obviously a deep meaning behind the quote.

Aesthetic

To create this piece the artist has first lightly drawn out the letters and the shapes around the paper. Then using a very sharp craft knife the design is carefully cut out. For colour the artist uses a sheet of white and red paper, this is so it makes the quote readable. The red is a very bright shade; with the design cut out around the quote it reminds me of mistletoe.

The font used is simple and bold this makes it easy to cut out, the artist has avoided using bridges for the center of the letters, this just makes the colour come through more.  

Personal response

I chose to look at Nivet because she does such detailed cutouts. I really liked her carefully detailed pieces and the extra designs around the quote. The piece immediately reminds me of mistletoe. This piece inspired me to create two different types of paper cutting one being detailed and the other not so detailed. I have also decided to use two different ways of adding colour. 

This is my first paper cut inspired my Nivet. For my piece I used an English quote from a song that I knew, the song is called `wings’ by Little Mix. I picked this song lyric because I thought I could create illustrations of birds to add to my piece to make it look more interesting. Unlike Nivets I have linked the illustrations with the quote. Similarly I have used the same technique and materials as to create my piece. I used a pink background because I felt this fitted in with the nature of the girl band. Another technique that I took from Nivet was the use of not having the bridges to create the centre of the letter. I also thought that the font I used matched with their lyric video. 

This my second piece, I used it more as a stencil than just a paper cutout. To create the piece I made two stencils one with just the shapes of the letters and the other with the stripy design. I then spray painted the stencil with just the letters and then used another colour to place on top of that stencil with the stripy design. In this piece I have used a very bold font and have used both bridges and no bridges. I think this makes it look more interesting and gives it an edge to any other type of font. The saying I used is a command, I think the colours go very well with this idea as it stands out. I wouldn't have thought that the red and blue would go together at first when I first thought about using those colours because they are not exactly opposite each other on the colour wheel. This piece is so different to the piece by Nivet, one of the things that stand out to me is how elegant her piece looks compared to mine. I think this is because it is so bold and the fact that the spray paint often overlaps where it shouldn't so gives it a more messy feel to it.