In raising others through love, wisdom, strength and example of courage  to stand for truth, we help endow them with means by which all of us as humanity can rise to our highest purpose, fulfillment and above all, happiness

Ray Besserdin

We Raise to Rise

Dancing Brolgas is one of the paper sculptures along with Crocodile with Barramundi and Frilled Lizard, a corporate commission for the Northern Territory Government, Australia in 2001, contributing to the spectacle of the ‘Journey of a Nation’ Federation parade. This event and sculptures were also featured on TV as one of the major events.  

The sculpture took six months of full-time work to complete and incorporates the equivalent of more than 15,000 sheets of A4 paper.  Each form started as a flat cut-out which, once wet, was hand-moulded into the final shape. 

All my work is formed from sheet papers.  The shape of each piece of flat paper must be exactly determined before it is sculpted and assembled into the body of the final dimensional sculpture.  The result is what gives the work its uniquely faceted, unmistakably paper look.

Dancing Brolgas

Artwork 1, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Banksia

Artwork 2, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Kangaroo Paw

Artwork 3, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Waratah

Artwork 4, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Button Flowers

Artwork 5, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Golden Wattle

Artwork 6, part of art collection- Australian wildflowers in bold graphic abstraction. Created in sculptured Fabriano Mill.
In private collection- Manhattan NY

Sturt's Desert Pea

The White Peacock is the name of the gown I designed and created for creative collaboration with an internationally recognized art photographer, Vicky Papas-Vergara. This image won the Gold Award at the Las Vegas Wppi awards, USA

White Peacock 1- Fine Art Print

Sculptured from Hahnemuhle (Germany) 300gsm cotton NOT, Arches (France) 310gsm cotton hot-pressed mould made papers and a variety of handmade Hemp, Flax and Kozo (Mulberry) papers from  Awagami (Japan) and other Asian sources, some as light as 4gsm.

Bark and Beetle

A flowing pattern of floral forms made of elements inspired by Bird of Paradise feathers.  Created as a peaceful decorative work in a monochrome of white cotton sculptured paper elements, the shapes of which are revealed only by natural light and shade. I come back to these energy flows in many of my abstract works because they carry the viewer into a pleasing sense motion with no start or finish.

Created in Arches 250gsm hot pressed, French textured new cotton paper

Corporate Commission for Crown, Melbourne

Floral Plumage

Swan males are extremely protective of their clutch of Cygnates.  It bears a touching symbolism and the focus was represent the bird in my “impressionist sculptured paper” styling capturing the movement and expression of readiness to defend itself and its brood.
Hahnemuhle 300gsm German new cotton, Arches 250gsm French hot-pressed new cotton and Japanese handmade kozo (Mulberry) papers.

In Private Collection

Swan – The Protector

The Ragianna Bird of Paradise, known for its most spectacular display feathers inspired this paper sculpture artwork, created in the “impressionist sculptured paper” signature style of the artist.
Set on a Spicers background stock with a colour wash setting reminiscent of being high in a rainforest canopy. The colours chosen are symbolic of the sun and marigold for sunny Australia. Freelife® Felt White 215gsm provided the base the red art and Stephen TM Chilled White 250gsm that for the yellow art to proudly showcase Spicers’ products.  The sculptures require handmade papers for their unilateral sculptural capabilities, stretch, unique textures and colours that make the “artist’s palette”.  Most are 100% cotton, hemp, flax or mulberry papers from varying sources in Europe and Asia.  The mulberry Koziyuki, Kozos and fine 8gsm Tengushu are from Japan. Corporate commission for Spicers Australia.

Merit Award, Yellow, Art Room Gallery, US '22
Honourable Mention, Animals Show,Grey Cube '22

Bird of a Feather #2

The Ragianna Bird of Paradise, known for its most spectacular display feathers inspired this paper sculpture artwork, created in the “impressionist sculptured paper” signature style of the artist.
Set on a Spicers background stock with a colour wash setting reminiscent of being high in a rainforest canopy. The colours chosen are symbolic of the Red for Japan, the land of the rising sun. Freelife® Felt White 215gsm provided the base the red art and Stephen TM Chilled White 250gsm that for the yellow art to proudly showcase Spicers’ products. The sculptures require handmade papers for their unilateral sculptural capabilities, stretch, unique textures and colours that make the “artist’s palette”.  Most are 100% cotton, hemp, flax or mulberry papers from varying sources in Europe and Asia.  The mulberry Koziyuki, Kozos and fine 8gsm Tengushu are from Japan.

Corporate commission for Spicers, Japan.

Birds of a Feather #1

Symbolic of a couple romantically spiralling upward in a flight of euphoric passion. The eagle represents the masculine and the hummingbird, the feminine. The swirling vortex suggests the rising, rotational motion of the bird’s rapturous arial dance.  The backing is convex to have no visible corners, enhancing the illusion of being suspended in flight.  Designed to fit a specially built niche commemorating the client’s first – paper – anniversary, situated right in the front entrance of their home.
Sculptured from Hahnemuhle (Germany) 300gsm cotton NOT, Arches (France) 310gsm cotton, hot-pressed, mould-made papers for the body armatures with a variety of handmade, fine weighted, mulberry papers for the many hundred individually sculptured feathers. The eyes are layered with the top formed of 4gsm Kozo tissue, treated with methylcellulose to give almost glass-like transparency and life.  The swirls are from a stiff 70gsm transparent, wood fibre stock.
In private collection.

Rapturous Ascent

She looks somewhere downward with a distant gaze, her mouth slightly agape in despair. She seems to have shed so many tears it has left a trail from one eye, washing the fine film of dust on her cheek. She is in a world she did not choose as in so many native communities, who's cultural coherence and integrity is tearing down and vanishing beneath them, living in abject poverty. She has learned most to dread the threat of abuse. She is on the threshold so many of the original young ones, especially girls would experience: Torn between a life intolerable, and ending it, like some as young as twelve are doing.
Arches 300gsm hot-pressed French cotton and German cold-pressed cotton papers, worked over in a variety of ink and dye tinted 30 gsm Japanese Kozo and Hemp papers, some as light as 4gsm, on the hair.- In private collection

Little Girl Torn

Created on commission for Laurina Lodge, located in Heyfield, Victoria, AUS  The artwork greets visitors as they enter the reception.  The subject is a native shrub known Pincushion Hakea, Hakea laurina by its scientific name.  H. laurina is characteristic for the bushland surrounding Heyfield.
Created in a variety of archival mould-made cotton papers with Asian handmade stocks. The work even features ants tending nectar on the flowers, as is observed in nature.  Colours are created with ink tints and washes.

Hakea laurina

Paper sculpture Installation to commemorate Mother’s Day as a completely unique way to draw attention to the special quality of mother’s the world over.I created a form with wings and hearts to represent the love, nurturing, guidance and encouragement that to me are what mothers do, besides giving us birth.  It portrays the essence of mothers universally, which is another meaning of the heart symbol. The way the “mother’s” wings just enclose her “offspring” strongly projects the feeling of gentle protection while the young ones develop their life skills.

Mother's Heart Installation

A tribute to Earth  with a sentiment about caring for our precious earth, (symbolised by the hands), centred around our unique continent, Australia. Embedded in the central cyclic element is reference to renewal of materials and energy critical to our future. In this artwork, all these elements come together in one flowing, synthesis of motion with poignant symbolism and emotion.
Formed from a variety of Australian, (Blue Lake Mills, Mt Gambier), and Asian handmade papers gives a variety of solidity, colour, texture and yet incredible delicacy, as seen in the tail feathers and swirling Monsoon clouds over the North-West of the continent.
In private collection

Flowing Synthesis

A private tribute to a gentleman named Peter based upon the ancient Druid myth of the Green Man with fragmented memories of this departed loved one, a great vigneron and lover of nature.   The background bears a splattering resembling his beloved red wine.Sculptured from Hahnemuhle (Germany) 300gsm cotton NOT,  Arches (France) 310gsm cotton hot-pressed mould made papers and a variety of handmade Hemp, Flax and Kozo (Mulberry) papers from  Awagami (Japan) and other Asian sources, some as light as 4gsm. Background tinting with acrylic inks.

In private collection

Dionysian Green Man

I love the expressiveness of hands and use them here to metaphorically express the similarity between the challenges of our endeavours and the flow of rivers.  Life is never a straight forward path. We reach forward but are faced with continual obstacles.  To overcome them and reach our destination, we decide directions, learn what works and what doesn’t, try this way, then that way; reach for help or offer ours to others in turn. Persistence prevailing, incrementally we find our way. 
In private collection 
2022- Director’s Choice Prize ART FLUENT, Boston, "WITHIN"  
2018 Winner People's Choice Prize|National Works on Paper / MPRG    2017 Finalist Banyule Works on Paper

Endeavour’s Hands

As a lover of nature, but living in the city, I observe people’s gardens as I go for my exercise walks. They bring peace and tranquility apart from a serene balance to city living.  One garden near my gallery caught my attention and inspired me with its magnificent, tall, smooth, white Lemon Scented Eucalypt. It reigns like a hand reaching triumphantly skyward, defending a mostly native garden, where amongst other things, stands a stout Grass Tree, Kangaroo Paws, Melaleuca and a single very attractive, Japanese Maple seems quite out of place. All created in special handmade papers, uniquely there are some actual Japanese Maple leaves embedded in the making of one of the papers.
In private collection.

Beneath its Reign

A recent trip to India and a visit to the Kolkata Museum inspired this piece.  The structures and textures of huge fossilized remains of long gone Ordovician marine creatures on display, called Nautiloids, fascinated and begged me to create an abstract from my impression.
Formed from a variety of German mould-made and Asian handmade papers based on various plant fibres to give the organic textures and natural colours.
Framed in raw Tasmanian Oak hardwood finished with beeswax and acrylic glazing.
In private collection.

Ancient Origins

Originally created for reproduction by Australian Geographic Magazine.The art depicts the life cycle of Australia's most recognized cicada Cyclochila australasiae, or as it is known by its common names, the Green Monday Cicada or the Greengrocer. Bronze Winner, Dimensional Awards, New York, USA. Entirely sculptured from Arches (France) 310gsm cotton hot-pressed mould-made papers with a variety of handmade Hemp, Flax and Kozo and Kozo (Mulberry) papers. Insect bodies are sculptured in calendared, hot-pressed stock to give the realistic shine.The bark is of varying thickness coloured Hemp and Flax papers on an amature of the sculptured cotton stocks creating the tree forms. The wings are of transparent Glassine Paper, as used in archival storage interleafing. Colours are mostly acrylic inks applied by airbrush.

Cicada Life Cycle

white

yellow

orange

purple

dark blue

green

light blue

brown

black

Acrylic

Aquatint

Canvas

Chalk

Charcoal

Clay

Concrete

Embroidery

Graphite

Gold

Mixed Media

Metal

Oil Paint

Paper

Pastels

Pencil

Pigment

Resin

Tempera

Textile

Watercolor

Collage

Other

Film

Digital

Ceramic

Wire

Wood

Yarn

Stone

Porcelain

Marble

Glass

Plastic

Design

Drawing

Engraving

Etching

Linocut

Lithography

Painting

Prints

Screen Print

Text

Work on paper

Photography

3D Print

Performance

Sculpture

Landscape

Portrait

Very large

Large

Medium

Small

Very Small

To Seaside

Green Dominion

The Path to Gondwana

The Red Sands Garden

Tranquility

Portrait of Anne Ducros - French Jazz Vocalist

Portrait of Sven Libaek - Australian-Norwegian Distinguished

Portrait of Don Burrows - Australian Jazz Woodwind Legend

Be inspired by artworks created in the natural beauty of one of humanity's oldest and most enduring mediums. 

All of what you discover here is sculptured by the artist from sheet-formed papers sourced from Europe and Asia.


About Ray Besserdin
32-year career, recognised internationally with 35 awards to date, including two gold from New York, and “Gold Medal for Creativity” from Mondial Art Acadamie, France.  Born to artist parents, entirely self-taught techniques of sculpturing dimensionally with only sheet-formed papers, much like bas-relief. 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 mostly by painters of the French Impressionist Period and developed a technique to achieve expressiveness using torn papers build up three-dimensionally, where they used paint two dimensionally. Whilst his works can be abstract to figurative ultra-realism, he calls his signature style “Impressionist Sculptured Paper” for its use of torn, raw pieces arranged to form the subject matter.  While likeness is important, the focus is to capture emotion, life, and expression over realism, yet always revealing the character of the papers from which the subjects are sculptured. Nature is his favourite subject matter. Works hang in private and corporate collections in London, Munich, Manhattan, Tokyo, New Zealand and throughout Australia.  

Ray is Australian Ambassador for Mondial Art Academia, France.

Ray Besserdin Paper Sculpture Artist- Available Works

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