Placing your empty cardboard boxes in the recycling bin is one way of effectively dealing with the common material, but artist Chris Gilmour opts to sculpturally mimic objects with them instead. The English sculptor reworks average cardboard boxes to construct incredibly detailed replicas of varied objects ranging in size from a teacup to a grand piano. It's hard to believe that these are real objects disguised in a cardboard design.
The uncommon medium, though paper-based, seems like a difficult substance to work with because of its stiffness, but you wouldn't know it looking through Glimour's portfolio of work. Each piece is brilliantly sculpted and pasted together, making one believe that they can actually hop on his scooter and zoom off. Even the cardboard bicycles have all of their spokes, chains, pedals, and inflated tires.
An added bonus to the artist's work is the labeling and stickers that were originally on the cardboard boxes that have been left intact. Rather than giving the illusion of realistic objects that have a unicolored scheme, Gilmour reveals the true origins of the material, further perplexing his audience with his astounding ability to repurpose the medium we regularly encounter. Next time you order pizza, think of the artistic possibilities that pizza box can offer.
