Paper Sculpture Artist - Suhail Shaikh

I had the pleasure of being introduced to the extraordinary paper sculptures of Suhail Shaikh of France via email. He is a self-taught paper artist with seemingly limitless talent who works from time to time with Isabelle Borchgrave, the Belgian artist who creates elaborate historical costumes from paper.


Suhail, whose personal paper art is very different from Isabelle's, prefers to use only white paper. Each graceful sculpture appears to be as light as air...


...and many are representations of the natural world.


I asked about his use of only white paper and how he came to this life as a paper artist...

"Not only is white ethereal, simple and pure aspects come through, but one also identifies the paper sheet, thus the starting point (as compared to the paper sheet being hidden behind paint). Also the forms are best seen with the light and shadow playing on white."


"Sheet paper is my material of choice (as compared to papier maché, for example) and I see no limit to the forms or the scale it may attain. Feeling the weight, the fibre, the resistance, the finish, one knows instinctively how far each different grade can be pushed."

"When I was a little boy in India, my grandmother helped me make my own toys from scratch. Paper and cardboard recovered from discarded packaging was easy, fun and quick to manipulate. From making my own toys, I moved on to making detailed model airplanes." 


Paper My Wings is Suhail's blog devoted to his lifelong fascination with flight and the resultant hobby of building planes from paper and whatever odd bits he could find. His collection of painted model planes needs to be seen to be believed, and of course many of the modern, white sculptures he makes today reflect this love of flying.


See many more paper sculptures on his blog, Paper My Wishes.