British artist Chris Gilmour based in Italy has an incredible talent for constructing life-size objects such as cars and bicycles from discarded cardboard packaging. I suspect that like me throughout his formative years Christmas usually involved hurriedly unwrapping the largest present under the tree, discarding the contents before playing with a cardboard box for the rest of the day, much to the chagrin of one's parents. Gilmour restricts himself self to cardboard and glue and nothing else, no supporting structures, no wood, metal, plastic, wire, just cardboard. That in itself means he has at least a firm grasp on engineering principles, using much of the techniques used in the packaging industry to strengthen cardboard through layering and rigid construction techniques.
His exploration of the everyday, and the power of packaging in our everyday culture, the scale of his pieces, and the blank hyperreal vista his art opens up to the viewer make this artist a must see – www.chrisgilmour.com.
