Interview with Sydney paper artist Natasha Frisch

Sydney-based artist Natasha Frisch creates elegant and meticulous paper sculptures that challenge our perception of the built environment. Many of her works posses a chameleon-like quality, effortlessly camouflaging themselves into their immediate environment.

Natasha completed her Bachelor of Arts (Media Arts) at RMIT University, and since then has presented in several solo exhibitions both in Australia and overseas. A veteran in taking part in artist-in-residence programs, Natasha was a recent recipient of the Woollahra residency, where she will be creating her plant works for a community project. At the end of the year she will be travelling to NYC for a 3-month residency at NARS .

Featured Project // Natasha’s precise replicas of everyday objects, made by hand using tracing paper and tape.

Why It Rocks // Even though each piece requires a significant amount of work and skill, her sculptures never scream for attention – they are delicate, quiet and subtle.

Below is a little Q&A with the artist. (She can be contacted here.)

Natasha Frisch, It Was Never Meant To Be This Way 2006.
Tracing Paper, Double Sided Tape, Fishing Line.
139cm L x 95cm W x 108cm H.

Natasha Frisch, It Was Never Meant To Be This Way (detail), 2006.
Tracing Paper, Double Sided Tape, Fishing Line.
139cm L x 95cm W x 108cm H.

Natasha Frisch, Baby…Don’t Cry 2005.
Tracing Paper, Glue, Balsa Wood, Fishing line.
4.8cm L x 3.9cm W x 0.6cm H.

Natasha Frisch, burning the midnight oil in her studio in New York.

Natasha Frisch, Left – Since I met you #2 2010. Right – Since I met you #1 2010.
Type C Photograph (b0th).
39cm W x 60cm H (both).

+ What are you seeking to portray in your work? What is fundamental to your practice – your philosophy and your process?

I mainly work with modest materials such as tracing paper, double-sided tape and fishing line to construct models and installations that closely approximate everyday objects and sites. The fragile and impermanent nature of the materials I use ensures that the work cannot be easily transported or translated to another site. The temporary constructions exist only for the lifetime of the exhibition and upon de-installation the work is documented and then destroyed. If the work is to be shown again it must be re-made and all that remains of each piece is photographic or video evidence. My installations document the situations where human behaviour has altered the physical or emotional for better or worse and via stillness and spatial displacement allow for a slippage between the real and the unreal.

Natasha Frisch, Somebody else’s shadow (NY) 2012.
Still from Stop-motion animation.
[work in progress].

Natasha Frisch, Us [working title].
Type C Photograph, From the Murray’s Cottage series.
[work in progress].

+ What has been your favourite project so far?

It may be yet to come… I was recently awarded a 3 month residency at The New York Art Residency and Studios (NARS) Foundation in Brooklyn for late 2013.

+ What was one of your biggest lessons learned since starting out?

Persistence is everything.

+ Any interesting/ funny/ quirky facts about your work that you could share with us?

Nobody ever believes that the work is made from paper so they have to touch it to make sure it is. The first time I exhibited ‘Somewhere In Between’ somebody actually sat on them because they thought they were real. See blog post and photos that prove this.

Natasha Frisch, Somewhere In Between 2010.
Tracing Paper, Double Sided Tape.
Chairs: 38cm L x 36cm W x 95cm H.