Kyoto-based artist Mari Kamei, who I’m going to go ahead and dub the “human shredder,” loves to cut. Whether it’s milk cartons, paper cups, biscuit boxes or cake boxes, if it’s shredable Kamei will shred it. “I’m not trying to create paper cut-outs. It’s more about the action of cutting,” said Kamei in an interview filmed for her upcoming show at AS2 Gallery in Kyoto.
Using a spiral cutting process, Kamei carefully shreds each object, often opting to preserve small portions of each to reveal their previous form. There is something wonderfully crude about her method, which – much like the gesture drawings students do in drawing 101 – focuses on the action rather than the end product.
