“The Road Leads Home”
For many of us, cardboard is something we give little thought to. Once it’s served its purpose, it’s time to recycle it. But not for artist Warren King. He works with the ubiquitous material and creates incredible sculptures of figures, often inspired by his family history. The three-dimensional pieces feature free-standing people, busts, and relief sculptures, each telling a story.
“These works are part of an ongoing series reflecting on how my family made its way from China to the American Midwest,” King tells My Modern Met. “Together, they look at how culture, myth, traditions, and family stories carry through migration—often in ways you don’t expect. In making them, I’ve started to see more clearly how much my parents’ and grandparents’ experiences shaped me, even during the years when I felt disconnected from my roots.”
Some pieces are explicitly about his elders. In his sculpture titled The Road Leads Home, King depicts his grandmother, bag slung over her hip and baby on her back, as she embarks on a new journey that would eventually bring her from China to the U.S.
“Shortly after getting married, her husband, a pilot in the Air Force, was relocated to a distant city,” King explains. “Unable to endure the separation, she gathered her belongings and her infant son, and set out on foot through the war-torn country. It would be the last she ever saw of her family.”
Other works reflect on King’s experience growing up in the racially homogeneous (white) Midwestern U.S. as a person of color and a member of an immigrant family. “Mask Bearer,” he shares, “[is] based on my experiences performing in Chinese cultural events while growing up in Wisconsin, this piece reflects on the mix of emotions that came with it—shame and pride, a sense of community alongside a feeling of being out of place. It’s a meditation on what it means to grow up in a diaspora, caught between belonging and dislocation.”
While his family history has been at the forefront of his work, King has recently started a new series of sculptures that, while personal, diverge from earlier themes. With the working title of Untitled, he’s drawing on memories of raising his two sons. “[I’m] exploring how fatherhood and building an art practice have been completely intertwined for me—inseparable, really.” Expect to see more from King on that soon.
Scroll down to see more work from King, and set your calendars for a short documentary about him and his work to be released in May. It’s part of the new season of In the Making, produced by PBS’ American Masters.
Artist Warren King works with cardboard and creates incredible sculptures of figures, often inspired by his family history.
“The Road Leads Home”
“The Mask Bearer”
“The Mask Bearer”
The three-dimensional pieces feature free-standing people, busts, and relief sculptures, each telling a story.
“Mott Street Flute Player”
Some of his recent works are of people he encounters in New York’s Chinatown.
“Mulberry Street Fruit Seller”
“I’ve been drawn to the vibrancy and density of this Chinese-American community—it feels so different from the more sparse one I grew up in. By capturing specific people in particular places and moments, I’m slowly exploring what community really means.”
“Mulberry Street Fish Monger”
“Canal Street Purse Vendor”
“Hester Street Vegetable Seller”
“Blocking the Elephant’s Eye”
“The Distance We’ve Traveled”
One of King’s latest pieces draws on memories of raising his two sons.
“Untitled”
“[I’m] exploring how fatherhood and building an art practice have been completely intertwined for me—Inseparable, really.”
“Untitled”
