Unfolding: The Paper Art and Science of Matt Shilan

Since its invention in approximately 100 BCE China, paper has been a cornerstone of our civilization, shaping currency, communication, history, and religion. And yet, perhaps because of its widespread accessibility today, paper is underestimated as an artistic medium.

Artist Matthew Shlian has always recognized paper’s significance as a medium and message, and as a material for experimentation and understanding. In his hands, engineering, science, and geometry form stunning and unexpected art. Folded, tessellated, compressed, extrapolated, two-dimensional paper becomes three-dimensional sculpture.