“My parents bought me origami books in 1973 when I was in second and third grade. When the war in Vietnam ended in 1975, we lost everything. In 1996, I came across the same book, The World of Origami by Isao Honda, that my parents had given me. It was then that I started folding again, and after two years began creating my original models.
My philosophy is “Less is More.” I am trying to capture the soul of the subject, not just copy its shell. I strive for simplicity and elegance. Origami can be like Haiku—a few words can say a lot.
I use wet folding techniques pioneered by Akira Yoshizawa. It allows you to fold thick paper and treat it almost as clay to softly form shapes. This piece was wet-folded using heavy weight watercolor paper with rough texture. The whiteness of it is pure. The texture is rich but quiet. The viewer is not distracted by color or decorative patterns and can contemplate form and shadow.
Origami is a special kind of sculpture. You start with a piece of paper and end up with the same piece of paper without adding or subtracting anything. This tall figure is part of a series—somehow I always like tall and slender figures.”
Born in Hue, Vietnam, Giang Dinh immigrated to the United States in 1989 at the age of 23. He studied architecture in both Vietnam and the United States, and is currently a practicing architect in Virginia.