Comfort in Cardboard (2019)

Materials: Cardboard, tempera paint, glue, tape, rope,wood
Dimensions: 15’ x 10’ x 10

Comfort in Cardboard was a temporary installation at RISD’s Woods Gerry Gallery. The house is made entirely from discarded cardboard held together with wood, tape, and glue. It began as a model of my kitchen and eventually grew to be a small invented room. The open ceiling revealed the trees, the cardboard carpet exposed the grass. The wear of the cardboard suggests that the space is lived-in; there is an open bag of FunYuns, a sandwich plate left in the sink, indentations in the couch, etc. I used bright tempera paint to create a homey environment. The work was left outside for a week, this led to an unexpected result: students began posting themselves and friends in the space on social media. When my friends and I gathered, huddled close together because of the sloping walls, it felt like being at a house party. I realized what I had created was not a sculpture but a space that was activated by its audience, where they became the sculptures.