Joseph, You asked for some feedback on the artistic value of your model. Well, of course, my take is subjective, as is any observation on taste. You said it's a mask representing a cat's face. The proportions seem pretty spot-on, though there's a bit of a gap in the ear’s top layer, which gives them a bit of a messy look. Not sure if it's due to a shortage of paper in the pattern resolution or just a rush in finishing.
Another thing that stands out is the choice of colors. I'm not quite getting why a cat would have one green ear and one black ear. And that red blotch in the middle, I'm not seeing the point of it, speaking purely in artistic terms. With a mask, you can play around with colors, trying out different areas, stripes, sizes, allowing the observer to connect in a more visceral way, to move us like when we see a painting by Miró or Kandinsky and wonder: how did they come up with combining colors and shapes like that? It's all so harmonious. In the case of your mask, the combo of those colors with the idea of a cat is weird; it feels forced, like you're trying to say two things at once, and the result is unintelligible. Sure, masks can be sad, cheerful, happy, surprising. But what's your mask? What's the message, if there is one? There must be one because you've aimed to create a work of art, yet you're uncertain if you've achieved it, hence why you're asking for our opinion (otherwise, you wouldn't bother asking). If I unfold the paper to see the crease pattern --a common practice among origami enthusiasts-- what I see (well, you showed it in the PDF) is a square divided into parallelograms and a smaller square. The colors are white, black, green, and red. It brings to mind a flag (there are several with those colors, like Sudan's, the United Arab Emirates', Kuwait's, Palestine's, but the directions of the strokes don't match any of them.) Here, I can't help but refer to the title of your piece (as if I were snooping, since I must be careful not to cross the threshold you've set), and then I link those flag colors to a cat mask. You managed to create a cat face with the colors of a flag, but only because you forced the direction of the stripes. And why a mask? A mask can be a festive item, but it can also serve as a means to hide, depending on the context in which it's used. Why choose something that represents hiding one's identity beneath the backdrop of a flag? I wonder: what could you have meant by that? What does a national symbol have to do with a cat? And why a cat and not a dog or a horse? Cats can represent both good and bad omens, depending on the culture -the choice might be tricky. Either way, I think for many observers, this could be confusing. Ultimately, my feeling is that while there's a suggestive cat face, the message is opaque. I say all this because your statement implies that you didn’t create just an innocent origami cat’s face. There's something else, but you've plowed a deep furrow between artistic commentary and political commentary, which, as you can see, makes for quite a challenging task, to say the least. Laura Rozenberg > On May 11, 2024, at 4:31 PM, Joseph Wu <qu...@origami.as> wrote: > > This list is not a place for political discussions, but art is sometimes > political. I've created a piece (and released an instructional video for it) > in support of a cause with which you might not agree, or find offensive. > Please discuss the *art* or *origami* aspects of this here; if you wish to > engage in political dialog, you'll need to find another venue. > > This piece, “Cat Head for Palestine”, was originally designed for the Origami > World Marathon 2024. Since I almost never make instructions of any kind, I > decided to withdraw it from that event and to release it for this purpose > instead. > > You can find the video, with more information about the design, here: > https://vimeo.com/910557067 <https://vimeo.com/910557067> > > ---------- > Joseph Wu, Origami Artist (via iPhone) > e: josep...@origami.as > w: http://www.origami.as > flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephwuorigami/ > facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joseph.wu.origami
