The Craft & Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) presents “Paperworks,” an exhibition that examines a range of work by 15 contemporary artists who have strong ties to Los Angeles and whose primary medium is paper. The exhibit, from Sept. 27 though Jan. 3, features two-dimensional cutouts and collages; freestanding sculptures; and large-scale installations that engage the architecture of the museum’s gallery space.

Enrique Castrejon’s “Portrait of a Lady” is included in the ‘Paperworks’ exhibit. (photo courtesy of Craft & Folk Art Museum)

Many of the works are created newly for this presentation. “Paperworks,” organized for the Craft & Folk Art Museum by independent curator Howard N. Fox, is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, including information on each artist.

Among the exhibition’s highlights of the exhibition are Enrique Castrejon’s cut-paper, three-dimensional collages based on electron microscopy images of the HIV (AIDS) virus; Lecia Dole-Recio’s painted paper mosaics that straddle the line between sculpture and collage; Francesca Gabbiani’s colorful cut-paper collages with abstract images of nature and residential buildings; Soo Kim’s cut-up and re-composed large-scale color photographs of global cityscapes; and Minoru Ohira’s graphite-pigmented expanses of paper heavily textured as relief sculptures.

Sculptors using paper as their principal medium include Tm Gratkowski, who partially embeds sheaves of pleated or crumpled paper in cast concrete; Echiko Ohira, whose red- or tea-colored paper constructions evoke biomorphic forms such as birds’ nests; Phranc, whose sewn and painted paper constructions of common household objects extend the tradition of Pop Art; Susan Sironi, who un-makes mass-published books into carved-up “non-books;” and Tam Van Tran, who staples hand-patterned paper onto molded pressboard to create wall reliefs.

Five artists have been commissioned to produce on-site installations for Paperworks. Margaret Griffith will produce an aerial installation of cut-paper forms in the architectural trussing beneath the coved ceiling of the gallery; Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia will suspend thatched paper banners in an arrangement the viewer can enter and navigate; Chris Natrop will deploy cut-paper forms in combination with video projections; Chris Oatey will make a carbon-coated crumpled formation that climbs the wall to become the roof over an emergency corridor; and Rebecca Niederlander’s paper filigree will fill a triangular display niche, overflowing onto and framing the exhibition’s title wall.

The opening reception for “Paperworks” is on Saturday, Sept. 26 from

6-9 p.m. The reception is free for CAFAM members and open to the public for a $12 admission fee.