Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Video: Inside The Mind Of Los Angeles' 'Cardboard Artist'
There is a new documentary coming out about Calder Greenwood, a Los Angeles artist who fills the city with whimsical cardboard art. The Cardboard Artist is a short film from The Rolodex and Two-Ninety Film about Greenwood. You've probably seen Greenwood's work around L.A.: perhaps surfers in the L.A. River, or a giant, dangling spider?
Greenford, who often works with street artists Wild Life, says in the video he enjoys using cardboard as a medium for his art because it's easy to work with. He finds L.A. to be a supportive place for him to make his art, and moved from other parts of the city to downtown L.A. to have more room to build his pieces.
The film moves us through his methods and work, including a replica for a train he made for a music video. His work is often life-sized, or, at times, larger than life, but made inexpensively with the materials he chooses. We also see some of Greenwood's earlier pieces in the form of a papier-mâché Godzilla he constructed for an independent film. While shooting that film, Greenwood said one surprised man's reaction to his work inspired his future endeavors.
Greenwood also takes inspiration from ordinary places as he moves around the city, allowing ideas to pop into his head as to what he could possibly place there. Sometimes it's characters from the dungeon crawler Gauntlet on a patch of grass, other times a rubber duckie in the river.
Support for LAist comes from
Due to the fact that Greenwood's work is made from cardboard, it doesn't stick around forever, the way a bronze statue might. However, Greenwood is okay with that.
"If you embrace the idea that nothing lasts forever, the time that it does you appreciate more fully," he said.
The Cardboard Artist was directed by Matthew Kaundart, who produced the film along with Luka Fisher.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist