Aiden Hwang

Paper Desk

  • Sculpture
Year
2020
Medium
Printer paper, drawing paper, and metal wire (to support the chair)
Results
National Gold Medal, Scholastic Art and Writing Award in Sculpture, 2020
A desk built entirely out of white paper: a monitor, keyboard, desk lamp, scattered sheets and a swivel chair, all folded and cut from card and photographed against black, beside two smaller views of the same model
Year
2020
Medium
Printer paper, drawing paper, and metal wire (to support the chair)
Results
National Gold Medal, Scholastic Art and Writing Award in Sculpture, 2020

I love paper. It can be smooth and supple or solid and robust, depending on slight variations in the pressure my fingers exert on it. Its organic texture is insanely pure in conveying a creator’s intent. It’s lightweight, cheap, and although initially two-dimensional, surprisingly versatile as an art medium.

This sculpture depicts a pause in everyday life. Someone left their desk, apparently in a hurry. In a paper world, is anything truly permanent?

Paper Desk won the 2020 Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Medal: a recognition awarded to the top <1% of ~300,000 annual submissions.

I added a reference to Paper Desk in my Game of Life project. →

A few centimeters of wire were used to structurally support the chair in key areas.

The paper desk seen from the left: a monitor, a printer, a desk lamp, scattered sheets and a swivel chair, every piece folded and cut from white card
The paper desk from the front three-quarter, the drawer unit open beneath it and the chair pushed out to one side
The paper desk from directly above, the whole arrangement of lamp, monitor, printer, papers and chair laid out on white