Skeppstedt, Karran (SWE)
Light and Darkness
Karran has a professional background as an architect, but for over a decade has been exhibiting her beautiful paper artworks, both in her own gallery (architect/studio in Stockholm) and juried exhibitions. 2024 was her first time as a finalist in Paper on Skin.
“Colours and materials play a central role in my work as an artist and architect. I explore the interplay between materials, pigments and binders, I mix my own paint with pigments and different binders. I use silver and copperleaf and a silicate paint containing pure gold.
I paint on different materials in free artistry and have used this work in the process to create character and spatiality in the work I have done.
You can wear the paper dresses like symbols for playfulness and as shields against lack of imagination.
Hanging on a wall they are wall-sculptures. The surfaces with gold or other metals on my costumes shine brightly in contrast to shadows from the sculptural volumes.
My work features contrasts between different papers and different colours.”
Materials: The suit's paper is hanji, a Korean handmade paper of various kinds. The dress' paper is painted with egg tempera, mixed with egg yolk, white wine, water and the pigments indigo, lapis lazuli and solferino.
The volume-creating parts are partly painted with a silicate paint that contains real gold and partly coated with thin sheets of copper and brass-like sheets and treated with vinegar so that they get the verdant green variations.
See the Work on Film
Photos Credit: Grant Wells Photo