Paul Plumadore

Solo Exhibition

“I have no answer as to why I make this art. In the late 1970’s, on an inexplicable impulse, I began cutting up and reassembling some books from my childhood. I had just left The Paul Taylor Dance Company and was at loose ends. Those early experiments  with paper were compelling to me. And I have yet to grow tired of exploring ways to cut and assemble images of all sorts. It was in the mid 1980’s that I began working almost exclusively with antique printed matter and developed a fascination with the beautiful material available from The Gilded Age to Art Deco.

I work with archival boards, acid-free glues and surgical knives. Only recently have I begun focusing on period and vintage frames which, for me, take my work to a place of final completeness.

My love of modern dance is the greatest influence on how I approach paper montage. I like to say, “The page is the stage and the paper dances.” As in choreography, I begin with one “movement” (one cut) as a leap of faith and see where it guides me next. And, as it was when I built dances, I’m never certain where I’ll be led.”