This article was taken from the April 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
There's a reason these laser-cut paper sculptures look like the stained-glass windows of a church: "I'm like a monk with a laser," says their creator, Eric Standley. "I give it everything -- it's not just pushing a button. You've got to have faith in what you do -- you can't fake faith."
The Virginia-based artist used to work as an engraver before he started hacking his own paintings with a laser cutter, moving on to card and stacks of paper. "I taught myself to draw on a z-axis as well as x and y. It's like chess -- you have to think three or four moves ahead."
Standley, 44, starts by sketching the geometry of a piece on paper, then drawing its four key layers in CorelDRAW vector-graphics software. The rest of his craft is progressing between those way-points by drawing intermediate paper layers. "That's where the left side of the brain takes over and I get into the tiny detail." Standley's largest piece,
Demeter, is 134 layers deep and took three months to make.
He's not worried about his niche being commodified, though: "It's not like everyone has a laser."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
