Mar Cerdà is an artist and illustrator working with cut paper, watercolor, and gouache. Known for her miniature dioramas, her work is displayed in galleries around the world. One particular series which has gained her some online attention is the Wes Anderson series, where she recreates Anderson’s film settings in incredible detail.
But Cerdà’s love for cinema, in general, is evident throughout her work. In fact, it ties to her professional background. Having studied cinema at ESCAC and specialized in art direction, she admits she’s always been fascinated with scenography and the treatment of space. A character can be defined by a space, even if is not present at all, says Cerdà—and her dioramas provide ample proof for that.
According to Cerdà, she first experimented with paper art after being commissioned to illustrate a children’s book: “When I had the opportunity to illustrate a children’s book suddenly 2D wasn’t enough for me,” she recalled in an interview with Culture Trip. “So I started cutting paper and creating a little house in 3D for the main characters of my first book and I got hooked on cutting.”
Each diorama begins with a sketch, after which she researches and collects source images from which she draws inspiration. “I like to find the tile design that fits on the piece, the plants that will go best with it etc. Or if it’s a movie, I like to see the scene over and over again till I have every detail clear.”
After that, Cerdà begins cutting the structure on paper: the walls that will contain it, the doors, or the windows. With that, she has a general idea of the proportions and begins shaping every single element within the piece. Once the cutting is done, she paints her pieces with watercolors and glues them to place. According to Cerdà, each piece can take anything between a day to three weeks and more.
The end result is clearly worth the hard work. See for yourself!
