The Art of Cardboard

Not to be confused with the former governor of Utah, Michael Leavitt was born in 1977 in the Pacific Northwest. Growing up in this region has greatly influenced Leavitt’s artistic development, with a local culture that is very steeped in artistic expression, and social and environmental consciousness. Leavitt also found himself inspired by both Native American and Scandinavian cultures in the area, as well as the environmentalist parents that raised him. Growing up in that area and under those influences, it was impressed upon him to never let artistic conventions hinder his expression, which has certainly shown itself in the wildly different forms of art in which he has partaken.

Leavitt’s college experience was about as varied as his youth. In 1996 he began studying at the Pratt Institute in New York before moving on to the University of Washington in Seattle, spending a year at each before settling on the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. A progressive school, Evergreen encourages its students to design their own degree programs and Leavitt took full advantage of the opportunity, graduating in 2001 with his own unique Bachelor of Arts.

These formative years of his life led him to experiment in all kinds of art forms, cardboard art being just one. When it comes to cardboard, Leavitt has a particular interest in shoes, using paint and glue along with recycled cardboard to create actual-size models of some of America’s most famous footwear. Leavitt enjoys making these and does it as a form of satire, in the same vein as other cardboard artists. He sees shoes as one of the most interesting aspects of American culture. Everyone needs a pair, so on one hand they are just a simple necessity. But simultaneously, they operate as stylistic statements that can run upwards of a couple hundred dollars. By constructing exact replicas, at least superficially, Leavitt is setting down some interesting commentary on art, commercialism and where they meet in the middle.

When he isn’t making cardboard shoes though, Leavitt spreads his time among a plethora of other projects, perhaps the most well known being his Art Army. In continuing his genre-defying art, Leavitt has constructed numerous hand-made action figures of other artists. Some of the famous faces he has shrunken into miniature versions include Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

He also has a series entitled Penny Places that consists of pennies used as canvasses. On them, Leavitt paints the place in which the penny was found, with such titles as The G-Train to Brooklyn and 6th Ave at West 4th St.. He has also done work designing trading cards, wedding cake top pieces, and portable housing units used for several years as homeless shelters.

Leavitt was once quoted as saying he would be afraid not to try other mediums. For most artists, designing with cardboard would be off the map enough, but it fits right in with the rest of the work of Michael Leavitt.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 at 8:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.