Creatively Speaking – Chris Gilmore

One Aston Martin, shaken not stirred…. minus 007 himself and Miss Money Penny.  Although I am sure if you asked Italian based, UK born cardboard sculptor Chris Gilmore nicely enough he may be able to sort you out with the characters to go with the car!

I am going to cheat a little today as I found a really great interview on Chris’s website and I thought I would share as it gives a great insight into his work…….

Your work ranges from objects from daily life, to small models of religious architecture,…. to a piano hanging from the ceiling in the last solo show and objects from pop culture… how do you choose the things you portray? There has been a progression in the choice of objects portrayed, which go from smaller domestic items (like the moka or the typewriter)

Church

I like the idea of concentrating on the material in its “natural state” and playing with the idea of these beautiful objects represented with a material from the waste basket. I guess it’s about trying to be as honest as possible with the material- I don’t want it to get too clean, so you can’t see what it really is. 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.

anish kapoor: monumenta 2011 – leviathan

 Andy Goldsworthy,

Sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy

Tom Friedman, and Bill Woodrow – Goldsworthy and Kapoor make sculptures with an incredible attention to the nature of the materials they use, and, although the appearance of the work is completely different, I think Friedman and Woodrow have a similar sensibility. It’s like the classical ideas of sculpture about the “soul” of the material, but instead of a block of marble it is being applied to leaves of washing machines… You are from Great Britain, but you live in Italy: is your work seen differently in the two countries? The first big piece I ever made was a cardboard cow, “to sell to farmers in order to replace the cattle destroyed by BSE, so that the fields don’t look empty”. This had a great impact and was covered in national newspapers, magazines and on the radio. Unfortunately the farmers took offence and I had to flee to Italy for safety: even now I can only go back in disguise… actually that’s a lie (the bit about the farmers), but I do work principally in Italy, mainland Europe and America and don’t often go to the UK. However, I think the public perception of the work is similar in different countries, the reaction to the objects is the same, even though the memories or cultural significance must be different. Hopefully this means these objects communicate to different nationalities and cultures, perhaps because packaging is a kind of common denominator.

#art #design #italiandesigners #ChrisGilmore #Sculpture #Recycle #Italy #Cardboardsculpture #Travel