Facilities,' one of a series of cardboard watercolors by artist David Lefkowitz. The artworks depicts imaginary structures made of, you guessed it, cardboard.

All images courtest SooVac/David Lefkowitz

On a recent Saturday afternoon I slipped into Soo Visual Arts Center (SooVac), an alternative gallery in Minneapolis, to take in Austerity Plans: Corrugated Drawings by David Lefkowitz. The show is a mini-retrospective of the Minnesota-based artist's work, namely his watercolor drawings of architectural studies on splayed corrugated cardboard boxes. The semi-hard brown surface provides a compelling textural contrast for Lefkowitz’ precise but expressive drawings, executed in a muted palette of reds, blues, greens, oranges, and browns. The irregularly shaped works, pieced together like puzzles, reveal all the creased edges, stamps, and tears that result from manipulating the material. 

Of course, Lefkowitz is hardly the first artist to paint on cardboard. What distinguishes his practice, however, is that his subject matter—the speculative structures he draws—are actually constructed from cardboard boxes themselves. Boxes are his virtual building material, not wood or brick. This playful conceit is subtle enough that a group of 20-somethings visiting the show never noticed.

Lefkowitz’ buildings have uncomplicated descriptive titles like Observation Tower, Blue Concourseor 65 Improvised Structures, a grouping of small-scale individual works laid out in a grid. Most reflect a modernist sensibility with oblique nods to the likes of Peter Behrens, Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies, Wright, and Neutra. That said, classical architecture rears its head in pieces such as Palenque Hotel Reconstructed and Housing Block with Poplars, both of which sport plinths, columns and architraves—all made from stacked cardboard, of course. 

65 Improvised Structures

Austerity Plans surprises with its visual acrobatics. Technically accomplished, the structures evolve in a subtle manner from empty space to full-fledged building. At their foundation they are simply boxes. But as the structures rise up into the space of the picture, they become sharply defined forms. In Cultural Institution, Loading Dock Entrance, boxes are not only just the loading docks, but also the steps leading to the two portals, the crates stored inside, and the shadowy institution looming behind. In Observation Tower, the uppermost box is balanced on stilts, accessed by a ladder through a trap door. Its walls are punctuated with windows, while the box’s top flaps open to the sky like an observatory....Continue Reading

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