Cape Town - Recreating the works of the art masters takes self mastery; doing so using origami butterflies is a special feat.
Cape Town artist Juanne-Pierre De Abreu is attempting to use origami butterflies to reproduce six of the most famous art pieces in history.
De Abreu holds the Guinness World Record for the largest display of origami butterflies which totalled 29 416 after the final count, in 2019.
His aim is to recreate one famous art work per month, and so far he has finished Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”. He also plans to complete “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli, Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, Klimt’s “The Kiss” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Vermeer, by the end of the year.
De Abreu said his sister-in-law Mila Lipton was the inspiration for the project.
“I told her that I wasn't sure whether recreating was my style but that this provided a challenge I was happy to embrace,” he said.
People are welcome to participate in a live art experience being held at the Sea Point Art Haus gallery. De Abreu will teach visitors to the gallery how to fold an origami butterfly. Any piece that holds its structural integrity will be used for this project.
The artist said origami butterflies had inspired him to create art.
“They’re not the most impressive fold individually, but as a collection, they work well,” he said.
“Butterflies exist in swarms, it’s almost as if they were begging to be used in my artwork,” he continued.
His secret to origami is patience. De Abreu aims to fold 250 origami butterflies daily to create an art piece.
“Patience is the most important thing. Specific folds will take more time than others,” he said.
Art Haus curator Greg Lipton said sharing how to fold origami with children has been rewarding.
“Learning origami is a very cathartic experience and is known to help with cognitive issues. It’s a great way of getting your mind to think differently,” he said.
“This is why we try to get children to come in and experience it as often as possible,” he continued.
De Abreu said he chose to embark on breaking the world record out of curiosity.
“I contacted them to find out what the record was at the time, and it was 11 000. I applied to break the record and three months later they sent me the rules,” he said.
“To be considered, none of the butterflies could be painted or glued down, so no past work was considered for it,” he added.
While working to double the former record, Guinness contacted De Abreu to inform him that the new record stood at 17 000, so the stakes were higher.
“I was aiming for 34 000 origami butterflies and it took me around two years to complete all of it,” he said.
In the end it took eight hours for a team of five people to complete the final count of his piece.
The artist, known as Jooj, grew up on the East Rand, Johannesburg, and relocated to Cape Town 15 years ago to expand his career opportunities.
De Abreu completed a film degree at AFDA in 2007 but chose not to work in the industry because of how many people were already in the sector in Cape Town.
“I like to have a certain amount of control in my work and that industry did not provide it for me,” he said.
The Cape Town artist said moving into the art space was a natural progression from the film industry.
“It was only when I started making origami butterflies that I realised that I found my lane within art,” he said.
De Abreu started folding origami pieces for fun nearly 12 years ago and said it quickly became a cathartic experience.
“Folding origami was a mixture of dealing with depression and trying to quit smoking. It kept my hands busy and got my mind off whatever was getting me down at the time,” he said.
“There are so many varying kinds of origami and a single piece can even take you 45 minutes to complete, but it is always worth the sense of accomplishment in the end.”
Art Haus weekend sessions for origami folding in contribution to the greats are hosted every Saturday and Sunday until the end of the year from noon to 4pm.