Artwork description:

A photographic collage postcard, made by the artist, showing the artist performance of the Cardboard Gondola performance in Venice. Comes with a short message and signature on the back.

Cardboard is a symbol connecting childhood and adulthood, we all
remember sitting in a box, pretending it’s a car or boat. It can therefore become a thing of time travel, especially when the cardboard car or boat is made with a higher degree of precision, and seen amongst what we generally accept as the real world.

Building a cardboard gondola and taking it to Venice creates unique social interaction, taking the viewer back to their memories of the first time they imagined Venice, the first time they saw a reproduced image of the city, be it Monet’s vision or Canaletto’s, a simple moulded tourist plate, or a Wall’s Cornetto advert. We know the power of the symbol of the gondola as a representative of Venice. This project draws the attention back to the craft of the gondola, while challenging the tourist expectation of the Disneyfied Gondola experience.

The Gondola was based on a three quater length boat which was made in Italy in late 19 century for a customer Marie Corelli of Stratford upon Avon. I went to study this boat which is now owned by Avon boating. Avon boating allowed me to build my cardboard version in their boatyard.

Materials used:

photo print