Terrestrial Forest Form 1917

Jean Arp made this image called ‘Terrestrial Forest Form’ as a collage; he built it out of paper. You know, I love paper. I love the fact that this piece wasn't painstakingly rendered, but carefully assembled. Here, the overlapping shapes in ochre and green give the impression of an otherworldly landscape, or maybe a strange, organic form. There’s a cut-out that reminds me of a river running through a valley. It's pure abstraction, yet it teases at something vaguely recognizable, like a dream half-remembered. The surface is matte and tactile; I can almost feel the texture of the paper. You get the sense that Arp relished the simple act of cutting and pasting. This piece relates to a whole movement of artwork by artists like Sophie Taeuber-Arp, who embrace ambiguity, letting their artwork exist as an ongoing conversation rather than something that is stuck in place.