Paper: Walls: Vulnerability and Resilience of Urban Surfaces

The Walls series utilizes paper as an expression of the urban environment. The Walls and Graffiti series explore connections between the artists vocabulary of paper manipulation and treatment techniques and the nature of architectural elements. Handmade paper art papers and silkscreen collages express the nature of a wide variety of surfaces and bear the effect of age and wear. As such the Walls testify to the vulnerability as well as the resilience of life itself.The Walls evolved from low relief collages to highly textured multiple layers both obscuring and revealing what lies beneath.Paper is often thought to be extremely fragile yet when put to distress testing by artist Sandy Bleifer it proves resiliant and quite beautiful for having withstood soak in water fire abrassion and other forms of abuse. And also quite beautiful in this condition.Paper as a wrapping material enables these works to project a sense of mystery and surprises from a hidden history. Each wall expresses a mood or personality depending upon its life experiences.Paper is uniquely structured to express the nature of a wide variety of surfaces and to bear the effects of age and wear. The Walls and Grafitti series became metaphors for the chemical and mechanical forces working against our efforts to protect ourselves within buildings. Their resistance to destruction reflects our own determination to survive the forces of nature.