Renowned artist David Cemmick has been thinking outside the box, transforming cardboard into spectacular wildlife to encourage the world to stop and consider the future.
Working completely independently, he uses old Amazon cardboard boxes, transforming them into representations of the animals he strives to protect and preserve to show how they can be recycled.
From Darlington, David's art has taken him round the world. He now works from his studio near Penrith, and is unveiling the new collection at the Manchester Contemporary exhibition from November 17 to 19, alongside his bronze, steel and resin figures.
David said the story started at the rubbish tip. "Here I am on yet another re-cycling run. The boot of my car is stuffed to the roof with flattened cardboard boxes from my Amazon purchases over the lock-down months, like so many people across the world. I arrive at the recycling bins and they are all full.
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"'Okay, so think outside the box,'I tell myself. You're an artist, get creative. As an animal artist and conservationist I have visited rainforests to record, in my paintings and sculpture, the threatened wildlife in their fragile, dwindling forest habitat.
"My artistic output over the past 15 years has focused on foundry bronze limited editions, for UK galleries and private clients. It has gone well for me. But bronze is a time and money thirsty animal to feed, heavy to transport and with a heavy carbon footprint.
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"What if I could re-imagine my car full of cardboard into works of art? Large but light, using recycled material both fragile yet strong, much like the threatened Amazonian animals themselves, and made from my Amazon cardboard boxed purchases. So this is what I have done."
Dave uses rainwater to soften the cardboard which can then be carefully deconstructed to reveal its many and varied qualities, textures and colours.
He adds: "Aware of ancient Chinese lacquer techniques first produced in Neolithic times, and lasting hundreds of years, I began to experiment. Brushed with modern wood glue and draped over simple wire frames, the final results are hard and strong, yet capture the fragility and vulnerability of the creatures themselves.
"Each sculpture is unique. A one of a kind, hand built creation. To some I add colour, others are left natural to appreciate the simple beauty of cardboard. I am pledging a percentage from each sculpture to the invaluable forest regeneration work of the uk based World Land Trust who strive tirelessly to protect the worlds rain forests."
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