Ray Besserdin

paper sculpture artist

What started as a childhood fascination with the beauty and versatility of paper, has turned into an internationally acclaimed career. From an early age, all manner of artistic endeavour captivated Ray but it was the special qualities of paper as a medium that always enthralled him the most.

Later however, it was Ray's other passion for nature that led him to graduate from La Trobe University with a degree in Biological Science having seriously considered becoming an entomologist, but his love of art proved so much stronger.

In 1983 Ray went to work with a graphic design firm where he developed his skills, especially in illustration, but it was not until 1989 in his first year of freelancing that an opportunity with Spicers Paper reawakened his childhood passion and led to his first professional paper sculpture. Whilst he continued to work as a graphic designer/illustrator over the next six years, the future was clear. From this time on, Ray's unique techniques have led him to be placed amongst the world's notable exponents of this beautiful and highly specialized art form.

At first, most of Ray's paper sculptures were applied to advertising clients as diverse as Toyota and Woolworths, but the versatility of the his techniques have since opened enthusiastic doors with publishers such as Macmillan and American Greetings (John Sands), private individuals and high profile corporations such as Macquarie Bank and AMCOR. In his latest commission for the government of the Northern Territory of Australia, he designed and built what are the three largest paper sculptures of their kind in the world.

The first ever!

Since 1992, Ray's contribution to paper sculpture has been recognised internationally with no less than fifteen awards from the New York based Dimensional Illustrators Awards, including a Gold Award, and a highly prestigious World Medal at the New York Festivals.

Today, Ray's unmatched skills are set to entice and enchant an even wider audience of art buyers who, while recognizeing it's beauty, never previously considered something so seemingly delicate and limiting as paper to infact be such a capable medium.