Paper People: Jerry Jeanmard

Louisiana-born Jerry Jeanmard's artistic process is one of intellectual freedom and improvisation, as whimsical as the characters he creates. From his collection of found papers, he plays around with forms, patterns and compositions, letting a figure grow organically before fixing it in place.

An established interior designer, Jeanmard feels that there are parallels between the rooms he creates and his collages. At their most successful, they both appear uncontrived and spontaneous, an assemblage of unrelated textures, colours and patterns that come together with unexpected and exciting connections.

 'I have always loved paper. Newsprint, graph paper, wrapping paper, book paper, construction paper, any paper plain or printed. That goes a long way to explain the drawers full of it that I've collected, some of which I've owned for fifty years or more.  I began bringing them together into collages, at first abstract compositions driven by shapes and colours and textures. Soon - perhaps due to some subconscious reconnection with a former career as an illustrator - I began to create figurative pieces. It's very rewarding to begin with very little preconception and watch these motley scraps take on an identity of their own.'    - Jerry Jeanmard