Curve

Paper's accessibility and ordinary functions belie its tremendous import. While seemingly anonymous in most of our daily transactions, it actually bears the weight of many of the most sacred aspects our lives.

Paper documents our identity and memories, it is our currency, and it holds our records, contracts, receipts, proclamations, cherished sentiments and hallowed words. It binds individuals and nations together or decrees their separation. Paper has a vast responsibility, one that is easily taken for granted.

Its simple appearance also betrays its dichotomy and ultimate power; strong and delicate, weightless and easily torn, it poses the ability to destroy lives with the breach of a written agreement recorded on its surface.

In Curve, I revisit the form and function of paper. Its original unassuming, pristine white condition is radically altered and redefined.

My work throws a potent curve to the assumed identity of paper by transforming it into a virtual temple for contemplation of its role in our lives. I create forms and perceptions with the paper, building walls that cascade torn twirls and create still surfaces that move across the entire gallery. The static surfaces and locks of the paper are teeming with latent, almost sensual energy, the delicacy of their twists mirroring the curves and turns of life.

I love the process of transforming familiar materials and having them viewed in unfamiliar ways. I simultaneously pay homage to their essential nature while presenting them anew. I smooth, spread, tear, and meditate upon the paper, building it into larger than life compositions. The process is meditative, repetitive and contemplative. Paper becomes a multilayered force to be reckoned with.

-- Castillo
read artist statement on past work