Jane looks in the mirror and smiles. At 63 she looks fantastic. Smooth skin, no wrinkles, well, maybe few of them in the corners of the lips, but it's only because she likes to smile. Well-groomed and neat look, shiny eyes, a little makeup giving freshness to the face… Looking at her, no one will give her as many years as she really is.
For her, as well as for thousands of women around the world, the beauty industry has created the opportunity to extend their youth indefinitely. And although Jane got the look of amazing beauty, perhaps she lost the very special beauty of her old face as it would have been without all these newfangled creams and operations.
“Forever young" is a new paradigm of our society. Woman make a lot of efforts to stay young even in their old age. It is difficult to get acceptance of old faces and their own specific charm, they become rather something unpleasant, something that should be avoided. However, the Russian artist and illustrator Yulia Brodskaya, who lives and works in London with her cheerful works proves that the old face is not an object for shame, but rather one for admiration.
Julia calls her technique of work edge-glued paper technique, which is very similar to well-known technique quilling. The essence of it is very simple - the artist consistently glues together pieces of paper, gradually turning the trimming parts into another masterpiece. You can check a video of the process with an example of creating one of her works “Jade” at the end of this article.
I don't always call it quilling because I have actually discovered a new way of using the basic technique - as if I'm drawing with paper instead of on it (traditional quilling often uses a number of basic shapes, so it is a bit different).
Yulia Brodskaya
Image Source
For many people Julia became not only the pioneer of this direction, but also transformed the traditional technique of quilling into cool, modern trend. To date, her works belongs to a huge number of private collectors. Among the famous owners of the original works of the artist you can meet such famous names as Oprah Winfrey, Ferrero, Hermés, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and others.
But I would like to draw attention to another aspect of its success. For me, Julia is an example of the person who selflessly loves what she does and success is just an companion of this love.
I love paper, and I want to bring some more joy into the world through colour, tactile feel of paper, all those intricate details which are there in my work because I care and readily spend so much time making them.
Yulia Brodskaya
”Paper always held a special fascination for me. I've tried many deferent methods and techniques of working with it, until I found the way that has turned out to be 'the one' for me: now I draw with paper instead of on it".
Yulia Brodskaya
To draw with paper Julia started in 2006. Over the years, she managed to create more than 200 works. Many of her works are commercial works for the biggest brands, but my favourite is a special collection of “Old faces”.
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This paper craft technique is quite a slow process: I take a strip of paper, shape it, place onto the marked surface to adjust the shape and see how it looks, then dip into glue, place back onto the surface and hold it in place until the glue can hold the paper strip on its own, then take another strip of paper, repeat all the manipulations and so on....and on....and on...
Yulia Brodskaya
Most of the time ordinary people become objects for her inspiration. From a gypsy woman, a saleswoman in the textile market to her own grandmother - people are looking at us from this absolutely stunning portraits. In my opinion, in absolutely every work, you can feel the incredible beauty and amazing quality of each person, whose image seems to “come to life” in front of you.
Image Source
The reason why I focus on aging and older people is related to the theme of death and mortality: my personal interest is not about what happens after, but in the aspect of old age. I'm fascinated by how person’s whole life gets written on his/her face… There’s also an added bonus: quilled paper is an excellent medium for creating wrinkles.
Yulia Brodskaya
A way of 'painting with paper’*
*(c) Yulia Brodskaya .
On her website, Julia notes that the beginning of the portrait series was her personal interest in the development of her technique. For her, “Old Faces” series - became the site of a personal experiment "to find ways to bring this type of artworks to the new level in terms of their ability to convey meaning and emotions."
In 2016, Julia created 3 incredible works that have been unified into a certain sub-series with names of precious stones. In my opinion “Topaz”, “Amethyst” and “Jade” and real gems of this collection. According to Julia herself, through numerous experiments, in this short sub-series she managed to move from the state of "drawing with a paper" to “painting with paper”.
“I mix strips of paper as I would mix paints on a palette. These artworks are all about color and the unique, tactile feel that paper strips add to it. The portraits resemble oil and acrylic painting (especially from a distance), but with a textured paper twist.”
Yulia Brodskaya
You can see it yourself.
Depending on the size and complexity of the work it may take the artist from several days to several weeks to create a ready piece. However, Julia herself prefers not to know the exact time of work she puts in her creations to avoid the state of depression from the fact that there is no end, so during the work she entertains herself with music, audio books or films.
There are hardly any short-cuts – if you want to create something beautiful and intricate you have to spend long hours working on the piece.
Yulia Brodskaya
You can see the time-lapsed video for creation of “Jade” below:
Back to “forever young” paradigm
Let'sget back to Jane. In her 63 she looks great and causes admiration of another kind - admiration for the beauty of pretty, smooth skin on her face despite of the old age. However, like many elderly people, there are times when she fears the future. A young beautiful woman is looking at her from the mirror, but somewhere inside there is still a feeling that old age is already here. And let it not be visible on the body, Jane still feels it. And sometimes she even thinks if she is trying to deceive herself, to escape from the fear of the unknown, to hide behind the mask of a beautiful face? Fear of getting lost in eternity is the same for her and for the elderly people who do not disguise their real age.
She still embraces the fear of the unknown future and it seems that despite everything (including her external beauty) her life slowly melting down.
And then another question arises: “What is more important - to leave behind yourself a memory as a beautiful human in old age or to perpetuate yourself in an incredibly emotional portrait with wrinkles of colorful paper?”
I support @ecotrain project, which also use #ecotrain. I want to believe that more and more people will start to think about things that help to make the world a better place. (с)@ecotrain. I also hope that more and more writers on Steemit will support the movement started by @eco-alexand @icmultitudes . As I truly believe that we are one and helping others means you are helping yourself.
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