Cool and Awesome gargoyle face Art peering out from four-inch toilet roll tubes

Coming face to face with one of these creations in the bathroom might be a shocking experience.

But these gargoyle-esque faces are no bog-standard art project, but a painstaking process involving the intricate moulding of single four-inch toilet roll tubes to create a modern sculpture.

French artist Junior Fritz Jacquet, 30, who describes himself as a 'creator and sculptor in paper', then mounts his creation on steel stands and sets them loose on the art-buying world.
The Parisian artist said his passion for paper started with school origami classes and he now takes inspiration from the unique characteristics of card.

He said: 'I first concentrate on the construction of the eyes, then the nose, then the mouth and then the entire expression.

'I am trying to create funny and jovial expressions and will keep working on my technique because there is no limit to experimentation.'

He said: 'I started to get interested in origami techniques when I was 14. At school the teacher gave us origami models to build ourselves.

'My connection with origami was immediate and I quickly understood that you could take it a long way from a single sheet of paper.

'I have perfected my technique since then. I work with every sort of paper and believe every type has its own personality.

'In the end, every mask is unique.'
Monsieur Jacquet cites his artistic influences as the bronze figures of Swiss surrealist sculptor Giacometti and Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow's majestic, powerful figures in clay.

As well as his 40 unique toilet roll masks, the artist creates playful folded card figurines and illuminated paper sculptures.

He added: 'Paper is surprising in its fragility but also complex in its texture, elasticity, capacity to absorb light and its memory of being folded or crumpled.

'It is also an immediate material. That's to say, unlike earth or metal or wood it does not need treating or time to dry.

'I treat paper like a living material. It has a memory in that it holds or forgets folds or the pressure of a finger.

'It also contains a resin which changes with time by interacting with humidity, light and colour.'

Monsieur Jacquet's masks, mounted on steel stands, sell at 60 euros each and must be ordered in a minimum batch of five.

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