Experiments with water, by water – on cardboard.
How can cardboard be used as a fluid material? As my original concept was to create an airport model, I was inspired to create a piece of architecture out of cardboard that has seamless curves; curves that I thought would be impossible to create with cardboard. Evoking the aerodynamics of a bird, I worked to create shapes that were smooth, flowing into each other. I tried to limit the amount of angles, making the cardboard fold onto itself to create the shapes. The essence of movement was important in creating my work. I wanted the cardboard to take the personality of a different material. In doing so, I found the juxtaposition of the rawness of cardboard maché with the unorthodox shapes that were creating in mimicking the folds of other materials surprising. With this, my project extends beyond creating an architecture for an airport. Rather, what I found in this work was a new way of creating using cardboard as a material; one that allows cardboard to have the flexibility of any other material while maintain the humble and strong composition of it.
I found working with cardboard a great learning experience filled with experimentation. I first started with models and two dimensional shapes. After acknowledging that the shapes I wanted for my were impossible to make with cardboard, I made them out of play-doh. Once I had a three dimensional product, I then looked as to how I could put cardboard onto this. I then took a pizza box and cut it up into many small pieces. Once they were in small pieces, I filled a bucket of water and submerged them until they were fully soaked. Once they were soaked, they naturally split into three layers; two outside layers and one rippled glue layer. I first used the glue layer and covered the three dimensional model a few times. I then used the thinner of the two outside models and fully covered the layer of glued cardboard. I then let that sit for many days to dry. Once it was dried, I took it off and had a perfect mold of the play doh airport. With this I found how I would experiment with the product. I then molded with the same technique multiple materials including a sheet and laundry detergent.
My work started when I presented three mood boards. One was an airport, another was an abstract shape of curves, and the last was a modern 1950s home. My class decided the best choice would be a model of an airport. And so, I embarked on creating an airport. I was inspired by Ferrari World’s extreme architecture mixed with the silhouette of a swallow. And so, it took me a lot of thinking about how cardboard may interact with my vision. I struggled for a long while, until I found a method of wetting cardboard that allowed for curvatures that I did not expect to be able to make. This opened up a new world of possibilities for my cardboard architecture. As I did a presentation on Frank Gehry’s amazing architecture that molds metal as if it were fabric, I knew that this would be the radical change of trajectory that my work needed. I, in a sense threw out the architecture of an airport that was holding me back from artistic experimentation, used the technique that I discovered, and used Frank Gehry as inspiration to create a small series of works to examine how cardboard can be manipulated. I had a vision of what I wanted to do, but in the end, I allowed the material itself to do the work and make the final product.
