My Random Blogs: Toilet Roll Art

Anastassia Elias is a French artist on a roll, not just in a figurative sense. This collection is for her series entitled ‘Rouleaux’ (French for, you’ve guessed it, ‘Rolls’),She has made paper cut-outs depicting faceless characters and evocative objects which she then attaches to the sidewalls of toilet roll tubes to create a 3-D scene.

Through skilful backlighting and the use of light and shadow, the scenes superbly come to life and are beautifully captured thanks to some neat macro-photography. The Paris-based painter, illustrator and collage creator can remember the moment she came up with the idea to turn a toilet roll into a micro-stage.

“I have fun finding out what can I do with materials that I have gathered and one day, in May 2009, I looked at an empty toilet roll and wondered if I could do something with it,” she says.

And so Anastassia set to work, using manicure scissors and a Stanley knife to cut the small paper shapes. She chooses the paper so that it is the same colour as the roll to give the illusion that the paper shapes make part of the roll. She then uses tweezers to place the shapes within the roll, typically sliding the cut-outs into tiny slits in the tube walls.

“I make sure that the items don’t encroach on each other so that they best capture the light,” she says before adding: “I need a few hours to make one piece.”

The Scenes run from a football match, a old women snoozing in her rocking chair to cowboys. These are some of my favorites from her collection. To see more of this work : Anastassia Elias Feel free to email me your favourite Artist work. visit my website for more: www.darrenbarnard.co.za