For most of us, cardboard is just a ubiquitous, disposable commodity. We get goodies from Amazon in it, it sits around the office or in our recycling bin at home, and we rarely notice it.
Andy Barrett notices it.
The New York-based artist is so tuned in to cardboard that he noted the recycling pickup times in the different zones of the city, mapping them out so he can visit the neighborhoods and look for the colored paper cartons he uses to create his "Carton Marquetry."
All of the cardboard Barrett uses is reclaimed, and he doesn't alter the colors — just the shape. Occasionally, a recognizable logo appears in the cardboard montages, but more often the designs are obscure enough or the pieces are cut small enough that their nature becomes secondary to the piece as a whole.
In addition to New York City recycling, Barrett sometimes gets cardboard sent from friends abroad. Where it comes from is important to the art.
"By neighborhood or region or country the practice then became telling of where I am and whom I am collecting from," Barrett says in his bio. "Rubbish is culture."
