Look at the sculpture pictured above. Can you guess what familiar material the artists work with? Japanese artists Baku Maeda [bah-koo mah-eh-dah] and Toru Yoshikawa [tor-roo yoh-shee-ka-wuh] use ribbons to craft intricate sculptures, like the elaborate lion figure shown here. Called Ribbonesia, the duo has been together since 2010.
To create Guardian Lion, above, the artists carefully folded and twisted brightly colored ribbons. The material’s shiny texture and flexible shape create lush, luminous, complex details.
Maeda and Yoshikawa categorize their medium as three-dimensional painting, comparing each twist of ribbon to a brushstroke of paint. “They become paintings as much as they are sculptures,” their artists’ statement reads. Ribbonesia also creates many other animal figures, including foxes, roosters, and peacocks.