Jardín de Papel: Mersuka Dopazo and Teresa Calderón

Mersuka Dopazo and Teresa Calderón see their works as a ‘travelogue from unexpected territory’. The Spanish artists create large-scale collages using fabric and hand-made, natural papers. These specialist textures are sourced all over the world directly from the craftsman, from locations such as Italy and Spain.

Often densely patterned, the papers and fabrics are juxtaposed with gestural line, pigment and areas of gessoed white canvas, the collages exploring the balance of colour and the relationship between positive and negative space. Unexpected connections form between clashing textures and motifs and between the regularity of pattern and the free form of broken graphite and improvised colour. Contrasting modes of creativity are illustrated - rhythm and order versus sinuous spontaneity. 

Dopazo and Calderón's works have been exhibited extensively in the UK, the USA, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Europe. Following the success of their first exhibition in New York, which coincided with a showing of several major pieces at the Art on Paper New York fair, Jardin de Papel is a series of fourteen interrelated collages that draw upon global journeys, referencing urban encounters, city dwelling and times of transit.