Kirsten Hassenfeld’s translucent sculptures have been characterized as "extravaganzas of the handmade." Since 1999, Hassenfeld has used paper, the most ordinary of materials, to create ornate, obsessively detailed objects that reference luxury goods, classical architecture, and decorative arts. Described by Hassenfeld as "dreams on the edge of vanishing," her ethereal sculptures explore her own fantasies of abundance and plenty.
To invent these endlessly adorned, hybrid forms, Hassenfeld scours her collection of auction catalogues and books on decoration, indulging in her attraction to the beauty of ornament. Simultaneously, she experiments tirelessly with new types of paper and methods. To create the fragile components that comprise Dans la Lune, Hassenfeld spent thousands of hours hand–cutting, folding, gluing, rolling, and coiling three types of archival papers: tissue, corrugated, and vellum. Hassenfeld learned how to make the numerous fanned, honeycomb forms by taking apart and studying party decorations. She then used translucent tissue to assemble her own more complex variations — such as the fanning, accordion–like light covering that is cut in the shape of a female silhouette, resembling a profile found on cameos and pendants but enlarged many times over.
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