When I was younger, I would often take empty cardboard boxes that we had and place them in a way to mimic what was, in my mind, an environment. This concept is the foundation behind my series of works.
My works, Crafted Environments, take their inspiration primarily from makeshift dioramas made out of cardboard and paper. A subject that interested me was what would a real world natural environment look like if constructed from man made materials in this manner. The result was a series of forests depicted at different times of years and different colors; all depicted as though constructed from paper and cardboard. I wanted to make the environments appear inviting, as though you could step into the image and walk around the environment. For this reason I chose to create these environments digitally using 3d modeling software. If I had made these out of real cardboard and paper, the result would have been small dioramas, and that illusion of size would have been lost.
I wanted the environment to be believable, so close attention was given to the colors and materials I chose to create. Even though the trees are clearly fake, I wanted it to be easily recognizable as a tree. Thus, the “bark” of the tree would be made of brown cardboard with rough ridges. If I wanted a material to represent water, then the material would need to be slightly reflective and glimmer in the sun. While I wanted these environments to be believable and recognizable, I always want the environment to be what it was first and foremost, a fake representation. A fake environment carries with it a playfulness that may be absent in reality.
I wanted the colors to be bright and leave an impression, so I turned to the paintings of Van Gogh and Julian Weir for inspiration on how to best implement light and color into my works. Realism was never a priority, rather recognition of the scene was important.
