Cardboard Code
As I was breaking down boxes for recycling one day, I noticed some unusual symbols and marks printed on the flaps of the boxes. When I looked at other cardboard containers, I found more. Pretty much every box I broke down had some little symbol printed in a hidden spot and I assumed they were symbols were for aligning printing plates or proofing. So in order to isolate the tiny graphics, I photographed them with a high resolution Fuji GFX 50s digital camera @ 3-5X life size.
Some of the minute marks seemed familiar to me, from my time in animation and visual effects - especially the center registration marks. Isolating the symbols so I could make new compositions required photographing the marks at 3-4 times life size. This added texture as another fascinating visual element. So, what began as a '"one off" test image of an odd symbol on the bottom of a box that I was going to recycle, turned into a 3 year project primarily because I simply found the combination of the ink splats, surface texture, and big, bold colorful marks and symbols so fascinating at 3X life size that I couldn't stop photographing cardboard everywhere I found it. Sometimes macro work can be 2 dimensional, but the closer I got to the surface of these little pieces of cardboard the more 3D it became.
The 37 images in this series were made between 2019 and 2022 and are printed on Hahnemuhle paper with archival ink in one size - edition of 5 + 2 artist proofs.
*Please contact the studio for pricing and edition information.
