The Paper Sculptor - Ray Besserdin* by 2017 Australian Photographer of the year Keren Dobia, for her exhibition entitled "I AM", Keren Dobia Photographer © 2018 All Rights Reserved
Ray Besserdin is an internationally acclaimed Paper Sculpture Artist from Melbourne, Australia. Born to artist parents, entirely self-taught techniques of sculpturing dimensionally with only sheet-formed papers, much like bas-relief, he began his passion with paper in childhood, about the time he also become fascinated with nature. Graduating from La Trobe University in Biological Sciences 1982, he immediately returned to his greater passion for art and soon began developing sculpture techniques with paper.
Papers are mostly handmade cotton and mulberry stocks from Europe and Asia. Works range from miniature to over 6 by 3.8 metres, and abstract to ultra-realistic.
Inspired by painters of the French Impressionist Period, Ray pioneered and developed a technique to achieve their kind of aesthetic expression using sculptured torn papers three-dimensionally, where they used paint two- dimensionally. This “Impressionist Sculptured Paper” is what he considers his signature style. Its focus is to capture emotion, life, and expression over realism using torn, raw pieces arranged into the likeness of the subject yet always revealing the character and nature of the papers from which the subjects are created. Ray’s artwork speaks to his viewers’ hearts. Nature is his favourite subject matter.
His artworks are prized by collectors and art lovers worldwide. It has led to prestigious corporate commissions from Macquarie Bank, Amcor, Australian Government, Spicers Australia/KPP Japan, and a commemorative Dick Johnson portrait for Ford Motor Company, to mention a few. Works hang in private and corporate collections in London, Munich, Manhattan, Tokyo, New Zealand and throughout Australia.
In a career spanning over 32 years since innovating his technique, awards now exceed thirty five and include two gold from New York, and a coveted Gold Medal for Creativity in France, 2018.
Ray is also Australian Ambassador for Mondial Art Academia of France.
Whilst Ray is primarily a fine artist, he regularly collaborates with advertising agencies, architecture firms, interior designers, authors and publishers the world over. The two metre high “Envelope Wave” art created for Irish International billboard advertising contributed to winning an ICAD Bronze Bell Award in Dublin in 2017. Ray regularly enjoys illustrating children’s books in his three dimensional technique. Collaborations include private authors and publishers like MacMillan and Hameray Publishing in Los Angeles, USA.
He is also the creator of the very original paper sculpture caricatures, the Paperartzi®, trademarked and loved worldwide.