Astonishing origami exhibit displays dance of art and science

When origami enthusiast Uyen Nguyen discusses her art, you quickly understand that it is about a lot more than folding paper.

"In many ways it has been therapeutic," she says. "I find the process of folding paper to be almost meditative.

"Origami can be used to create incredibly realistic forms, not just to the likeness of say, an insect, but down to the exact species of that particular insect with proportions of its body segment true to real life. At the other end of the spectrum, you can mold paper to create the most abstract of forms beautiful because of their inherent structure instead of their likeness to real life forms. As someone interested in both science and art, I love that origami bridges the two."

Now Nguyen is bringing her passion to the people of New York City.

 

For the exhibition Surface to Structure: Folded Forms, which will take place at New York's Cooper Union from June 19 to July 4, Nguyen has gathered more than 130 works from 88 artists around the world.

The exhibition includes adorable rabbits folded by Malaysian organist Ng Boon Choon, and a realistic rendering of a field mouse by American Bernie Peyton.

But it also includes "St. Michael -- The Archangel", a more ominous work by Vietnamese origamist Tran Trung Hieu. It shows a winged angel carrying a sword.

The exhibition marks the 55th anniversary of the 1959 exhibition Plane Geometry and Fancy Figures -- the first origami exhibition held in the United States, which also took place inside Cooper Union.

So far Nguyen has raised more than $24,000 of the $32,000 she needs to cover the cost of shipping the works, organizing security and building display cases.

Collectively the works demonstrate how origami artists are pushing the boundaries of technique and style.