CHRIS GILMOUR

Chris Gilmour was born in 1973 in Great Britain, but now resides in Italy. He attended two colleges, South Trafford College in Manchester, and the University of the West of England in Bristol, where he eventually earned his Bachelor’s of Arts Degree. He has had several solo shows in New York City and Padova, in addition to participating in group shows around the world (Biography).
Chris Gilmour’s work consists of cardboard sculptures of everyday objects, which are “carefully chosen for their evocative and conceptual power, for the potential for mnemonic narration that they contain” (Bartorelli). He revels in “the game of contrasts-real/not-real, functional/non-functional, heavy/light” in his work, and the resulting sensation those dichotomies invoke in those who experience his sculptures (Interview).
His work is decidedly post-modern. Though he does not make any reference to the Dada Movement when he discusses his inspiration, it is clear that Duchamp is Gilmour’s artistic antecedent. Consider how William Arensberg defended R. Mutt’s Fountain, “an ordinary object” whose “useful significance disappears” when it is placed on a pedestal (qtd. in Godfrey). Duchamp’s work recontextualizes the functional object by putting it on display, while Gilmour first copies them exactly in cardboard, then does the same.
In an interview on his website, he said sculptors who are as obsessed with their chosen medium as he is with cardboard particularly influence him (Interview). He listed Anish Kapoor, Andy Goldsworthy, Tom Friedman, and Bill Woodrow. Their work is very diverse, but there is a common fascination with raw material. Gilmour compared it to 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,” or cardboard boxes (Interview).
The two materials, cardboard and glue, Gilmour relies on to construct his pieces, contrast sharply to the materials that are commonly used in classical sculpture. Unlike marble and bronze, cardboard is not encumbered with high art connotations. Rather, it is commonplace, a material of the masses, which is seldom elevated into the high art realm. Gimour’s work “creat[es] a language which is understood by many”(Interview). Yet through the years, the condition of the cardboard he uses has changed.
His earlier work consists of pristine cardboard surfaces that create “a hyper-realistic effect” which made those who viewed his work sometimes mistake the cardboard renditions for the “real” objects they represent (Interview). People assumed that Gilmour had merely painted found objects brown or covered them with butcher paper. Instead of transforming the objects into cardboard, Gilmour was transforming cardboard into the objects. The craftsmanship of these early sculptures is perfect, yet, especially when compared with Gilmour’s later work, their precision seems sterile.
He eventually began composing his sculptures out of discarded cardboard that retained creases, labels, and remnants of tape, which Gilmour refers to as the cardboard’s “natural state” (Interview). As a result, the spell was broken, but the work does not suffer. Instead it acquires a purpose: creating “beautiful objects” out of “material from the waste basket” (Interview). Gilmour admits that there are practical reasons for using cardboard in this state. At first, it was an economical solution. It is easily obtained, unlike more traditional sculptural media. Yet he was drawn to it because it is overlooked by society. He rescues the cardboard shells “which has been thrown away after the coveted objects it contained have been removed” and reinvents them into objects that are coveted even more highly (Interview). He makes that which has been discarded precious.
His work underwent a shift in subject matter as well. His earlier work consisted of ordinary household objects, while his more recent works are translations of “objects which are larger and belong to a broader cultural context” like the Aston Martin (Interview). Yet the underlying reason for choosing each object remains consistent throughout his entire body of work. He becomes fascinated with objects that “call up memories and emotions” and “imply an action or interaction of some sort” between the viewer and the sculpture (Interview). One of his private jokes is watching people attempt to control the urge to reach out and touch his sculptures. Earlier work seems to inspire this inclination because the pieces are based on familiar objects.
When asked to identify a turning point in the subject matter of his work, he referenced his sculpture of a wheelchair. Gilmour goes on to explain that the wheelchair incited a different reaction from those who saw it. While other pieces seem to beckon to the viewer, no one reached out to touch the wheelchair. Gilmour attributes this reaction to the fact that the wheelchair is “a slightly disquieting object” (Interview).
Gilmour’s work elevates the ordinary—cardboard and familiar objects—to the high art realm. His sculptures cause his viewers to reevaluate the world around them. By recontextualizing both cardboard and everyday objects, Gilmour is accessing the uncanny artistically.

Works Cited

Bartorelli, Guido. “Chris Gilmour.” http://www.chrisgilmour.com/en.antologiacritica.html.

Di Palma, Marco. Photographs. http://www.ChrisGilmour.com.

Gilmour, Chris. Interview. http://www.chrisgilmour.com/en.intervista.html.

Godfrey, Tony. Conceptual Art. London : Phaidon Press Limited, 1998.