My Origami Business Folded....

(I wrote this last week and finally got to the final edit)

On Sunday we had a wee one who was congested and coughing sufficiently to stay home from church.  So I had the duty this time and did what any parent does with some time to kill - pop in a movie and surf the internet.

I wanted sufficiently entertaining background noise and picked a documentary on origami called "Between the Folds" (via Netflix).  I didn't know what I signed up for - this was amazing.  So here's a review, but also something slightly more; a reflection.


Basically the art form has grown from simple critters for elementary school children to very complex and beautiful models.  The art has also grown in the analysis and supporting math.

This is from one sheet of paper (except the base).  It is called "Aragorn" crafted by Eric Joisel (http://ericjoisel.com/).



Eric was heavily featured in the documentary and with good reason; he's a master of his craft.




On top of wanting to make you get some paper and get to work - as all well captured art does - there was a story. I'm not sure the filmmaker intended to tell it, but covering people often ends up telling a story.

There is the usual tension of the artist loving his art and not wanting to part with it.  This reminded me of "My Name is Asher Lev" and how his sponsor basically raided his studio, collected his work, and set it up for auction.  It was too personal for him to go through that process.  Some of the origami artist have the same internal crisis.

The documentary started with masters of the tradition forms.  Trying to convey some message with the paper model.  Animals (real and fantasy), people.  Incredible detail and accuracy (proportion) that simply blew me away.

Then there was also a modernist artist with the approach of how much can you make with one fold.  More shapes than form focused.  I lean towards appreciating the details of the form pieces more than shapes.  I think more gets translated clearly with a form rather than a shape that a viewer has to interpret.

Another sect in the origami world were the organic/naturalists/hippies.  They focused on crumpling and the art in the process more than the final product.

Another intriguing group was the scientist/math realm.  There were complex shapes, software to detail ideas, and real world implications (airbags and medicine).  These folks were doing cool stuff that made my head hurt.



What popped out to me the most (the climax) was a line from one of the artists - "I've been doing this for over 30 years and I find I fold much less now".  The artist matured into appreciating the folds he didn't make. He used to fill his time with the details everywhere, and now lets the flat paper portion speak; because that's the message he has.

"Christ was crucified upon a hill, and not in a cavern, and the word Gospel itself involves the same idea as the ordinary name of a daily paper.  Whenever, therefore, a poet or an similar type of man can, or conceives that he can, make all men partakers in some splendid secret of his own heart, I can imagine nothing saner and nothing manlier than his course in doing so." - GK Chesterton

"My Name is Asher Lev" - book review

This book was recommended from a few places so I finally got around to diving in.  Chaim Potok is a wonderful storyteller - I previously read "The Chosen" (see review here).  This story is of an art prodigy growing up with an irresistible urge to create within an Orthodox Jewish household.  I'm amazed at how much I was hooked into a story with basically no action.  No car chases.  No ninjas attacking dragons.  None.  If I recall correctly, knife is used to sharpen an artist pencil.

The father tries but just cannot understand art and his son wanting to create art - "this is something I cannot reconcile."  The son, Asher, wants to respect his father but cannot resist drawing.  The mother is torn, as any mother would be, by loving her husband and loving her son and seeking to keep them both.  Toss in a Rebbe, the religious leader, who directs the father to continue vital and risky work in Europe  following the death of Stalin.  The Rebbe also directs Asher to study art and keep doing it.

That's the premise and basically the whole story.  Potok lets you look into lives of characters and once again I found them not only believable, but compelling.  You care and understand for each of the main players.

The book starts with Asher at a young age and I chuckled frequently at how well Potok captured the mind and restlessness of that age.  It progresses through the years and you get to see Asher mature.  I was pulling for Asher.

Asher's mom makes goes through a mourning period following family tragedy.  I wanted her to get better.  She does.  She makes tough choices and sacrifices for her family.  I couldn't help but care about her and see her as honorable.

Asher's father is devoted to the the faith and doing work for the Rebbe.  He works very hard in his duties for the Rebbe and has put himself at huge risk at times.  He struggles to understand his son, he tries but it isn't easy.

Asher himself is torn by this irrepressible gift and serving his faith and honoring his father. 

All of the characters popped out of the book to give you a sense that they are real.

My $0.02 on the conclusion.  I'll try to convey my thoughts without giving away too much.

I was disappointed with the ending.  Not that it was poorly written, or fell out of the story.  I was just pulling for Asher to make some different choices.  Did he really have to paint that and let it be displayed?  Is it required that all art causes some level of strife?  Is it wrong for a great artist to make great pretty art?  I don't that is necessarily being a "whore" as Jacob Kahn, the mentoring artist, had warned.

I enjoy and believe the call to be artists.  Art = created beauty.  I see that artistic spirit flowing through beautiful blueprints, well setup spreadsheets, furniture, good meals, music, stories, etc..  I don't think the artistic call would make a chef sneak meat into a vegetarian's meal.  There are lines that do not need to be crossed for the sake of the "art". 

Do all artists sacrifice for the sake of the art?  Is it really a choice between offending your audience (or a crucial part) and selling yourself? 

There is a deep underlying reality that "My Name is Asher Lev" told that I never considered before.   The artist pours his view and spirit into a work, and then sells it.  An artist sells something with huge personal meaning which ends up being a simple conversation piece completely removed of the story behind the vision behind the art.

There is a mattress store in town that is covered with art from the owner.  He readily talks about his art, and art in general.  He said doesn't sell them.  I wondered why not but now I have a glimmer of understanding.

Book Review - "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

I recently finished "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok.  "My Name is Asher Lev" (same author) was recommended as a good read (I still haven't read it).  "The Chosen" was at halfpricebooks so I took a shot.