Boxing clever: The artist who makes sculptures of everyday objects using cardboard

By TARA BRADY

Good enough to fool Q: James Bond's Aston Martin, as seen in Goldfinger, gets the cardboard treatment from British artist Chris Gilmour

While saving packaging from the dump is enough for most people, British artist Chris Gilmour takes recycling to the next level.
It may be hard to believe but these intricate sculptures are made entirely out of cardboard. Instead of using marble or bronze in the mode of classical statues, he chose to use one of the most humble and commonly found materials.
There are no supporting structures, no wood or metal frames. His interpretations of everyday objects are created with just cardboard and glue.
Gilmour’s work includes stunning life-size objects and reproductions including a Fiat 500, religious architecture and even a piano hanging from the ceiling.
Though the way they are made is extraordinary, nearly every one of the artworks is based on the most boring of objects - a dentist's chair, a car, a bicycle, a wheelchair.

Attention to detail: This typewriter comes complete with individually crafted keys and a faithfully reconstructed mechanism

Amazing: Gilmour re-created this Fiat 500 out of cardboard


Scale model: In a rare break from everyday objects, this recreation of a famous statue of St George includes carefully textured dragon skin

On your bike: Chris Gilmour recreates objects like this motorbike out of cardboard

Remarkable: Works like this wheelchair are constructed using only card and glue, without the use of supporting structures

Gilmour, who lives in Italy, said: 'There has been a progression in the choice of objects portrayed, which go from smaller domestic items to objects which are larger and belong to a broader cultural context.
'However, the reason for the choice of objects has always been pretty much the same - they call up memories and emotions connected to our experience of these everyday things.

Work in progress: A cardboard motorcycle takes shape in the studio, with individual engine components painstakingly recreated

'I think it gives another dimension to the work to use scrap cardboard packaging which has been thrown away after the coveted objects it contained have been removed.'
Gilmour's use of pre-existing materials also gives them a 'new life' linking art with recycling.
He said: 'One of the reasons I use cardboard is because it’s so easy to find - we have an immediate access to these 're-cycled' materials in a way that could never be possible with bronze or marble. '

The finished article: Chris Gilmour's life-size trike in all its glory


Card rock: The strings on these guitars display Gilmore's incredible attention to detail

This way up: This piano is so skilfully built it could almost pass for the real thing - until you notice the markings from the original boxes

Virtuoso: Each key has been lovingly crafted out of layer upon layer of plain card

Open wide: This dentist's chair is realistic enough to bring back unwelcome memories of the drill

Tooled up: A full set of dentistry equipment recreated entirely out of recycled packaging

Past life: This three-wheeled scooter still bears printed labels from the boxes used by Gilmour

source: dailymail