Jaq Belcher explores ephemeral installations using the "seeds" (the excised pieces of paper) from work to compose intricate mandalas on the floor lasting only for the length of an exhibition. Belcher takes an individual, site-specific approach to each installation. Often the number of seeds on the floor will correlate directly to some feature of the site – square footage, acreage, age, or even real estate value. Often an unframed, large-scale work from whence the seeds was born will hang above the mandala on the floor. Repurposing these "scraps" is another way Belcher explores reincarnation and energy transfer in her work. Each installation is composed on site by Belcher herself, not by the exhibitor, according to a drawing or schematic she has devised in the studio.
Much of Jaq's work references numerology, cosmology, and other symbolic significances of our place in the universe. Deciphering these codes or understanding their meaning does not, however, detract from the stunningly visual experience her work evokes. Belcher uses an Exacto knife to hand-cut seeds from single sheets of paper to make stunningly beautiful patterns, creating voids, raising or folding the pieces to accentuate the design. These lifted or pushed surfaces to make for shadows that, in turn, can form subtle changes in the tonality of the white paper according to the time of day or light that is surrounding it.
Belcher's work draws the viewer in and elicits an initial reaction of awe and amazement at the technique behind the meticulous, labor-intensive process. Further pause evokes a more mesmerizing and meditative experience, allowing for quietude and a deeper consciousness to emerge.
Jaq Belcher is a New York based artist working with hand-cut paper. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Belcher received her Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University, studied gold- and silversmithing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and received her Master of Arts Administration degree from the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts.
Belcher explores energy, consciousness, light, and form through drawing on paper with a blade. She uses an X-acto knife and handmade stencils in the shape of the vesica piscis (sacred geometry) in minutely scaled sizes. She composes and creates fields and imagery – both figurative and abstract – on pristine sheets of archival white paper. The vesica piscis forms in the paper can be made of two, three, four, five, or six cuts.
They are either completely excised from the sheet or left attached by a corner or small arc and then raised to catch light and form shadow.
Each cut is accounted for, and the final count is noted at the base of each work alongside three dates: the date the underlying drawing was started, the date the last cut was made, and the date the work was completed.
Originally a trained sculptor while studying metalwork at Melbourne University, Belcher turned to paper as her preferred medium upon moving to New York as she prioritized simplicity in her practice. Her investigations into the paper are studies in matter manipulation. The blade ruptures the paper's surface, which holds the memory of this energy transfer in its completed state.
The resultant work is electric with this memory – radiant both as a whole and as a sum of its parts. Stillness and focus are the foremost tenets of her studio practice, of which calmness and serenity are the direct results.
In the past years, Belcher explored ephemeral installations using the "seeds" (the excised pieces of paper) from work to compose intricate mandalas on the floor lasting only for the length of an exhibition. One "deinstall" included a dancer sweeping away the mandala with his feet in a public performance. Often an unframed, large-scale work from whence the seeds were born will hang above the mandala on the floor. The repurposing of these "scraps" is another way Belcher explores reincarnation and the transfer of energy in her work.
