PAPELLIBRIUM

Paper Installation from 60,000 Reused Art Invitations at

Women and Their Work, Austin, Texas

Nine years in the making, PAPELLIBRIUM is a paper installation made up of about 60,000 reused art exhibition invitation cards. It seeks to challenge preconceived notions of the traditional gallery space, delivering an engaging contemporary installation where the use of space is limited only to the floor. The installation examines and illustrates the concept of equilibrium in which all biological systems co-exist, survive and function, a concept that operates both on a cellular and exterior level. The installation compares, contrasts and balances art and science, and creates soft tension between the organic and geometric.

PAPELLIBRIUM is a site specific installation at Women And Their Work, 1710 Lavaca Street, Austin 78701. March 12 - April 28, 2016.

Reviews for Papellibrium

For each exhibition at the W&TW, a writer commissioned by the W&TW examines the work on exhibit and writes a critical essay. Valerie Cassel Oliver, the Senior Curator of the Contemporary Art Museum Houston wrote an essay entitled "Orna Feinstein: In Full Bloom" to accompany PAPELLIBRIUM.

Jeanne Claire Van Ryzin's review entitled "Orna Feinstein uses 50,000 exhibit invites in her a faux flower field" was published on April 7, 2016 in the Austin American-Statesman.  "...With the gallery walls painted a matte battleship grey — and with the gallery devoid of natural light — the immediate whimsy of Feinstein’s fake flower field is nicely tempered. If anything, there’s a slightly — yet nicely — claustrophobic feel to the rather large installation that just enhances its artificiality".

Writer and art critic H.C. Arnold described Papellibrium as: "...Overall, it’s staggering. Beyond the sheer number of invitations she’s used, the amount of time taken to bend each one and stitch them together must have been immense. Then, there is their careful installation. She had to simultaneously cover the floor working from the back corners forward while at the same time making sure to diversify the various combinations of invitations in order to ensure an aesthetic variety. Larger oblong cards sit next to concentrically circled ones. Taller cards peek out over their neighbors. And their different colors dot the landscape making interesting and subtle patterns." For a full review, please see "Perspective is everything: Orna Feinstein's Papellibrium", published on March 18, 2016 at the Art and Arnold blog.

Special thanks to all who donated the art invitation cards for this installation: Anya Tish Gallery, Houston Arts Alliance, the Museum of Geometric and Madi Art Dallas, the Printing Museum of Houston, John Cleary Gallery, Goldsberry Gallery, McMurtrey Gallery, Hooks Epstein Gallery, CamibaArt Gallery, Austin Contemporary, Williams Tower Gallery, Lawndale, and Women & Their Work.