The Cardboard Bernini

Filmmaker Olympia Stone's documentary incorporates a biography of New York 3D-modelling artist and sculptor James Grashow into a chronicle of the creation—from 2007-2010—of his "Corrugated Fountain" project. Inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome and the works of Bernini, Grashow fashions a sprawling, larger-than-life heroic display of Greco-Roman gods and creatures—all from common, unpainted corrugated-box cardboard. After touring, Grashow's ultimate mission is to have the work be an outdoor exhibition, falling naturally into decay in the open air, as part of the artist's personal exploration of impermanence and mortality (Grashow is described, perhaps ironically, as "a tortured soul"). Despite a long supportive marriage, solid career, great kids, and regular publication as an illustrator in the New York Times, Grashow remains obsessed with death and his artistic legacy (his wife worries that "Corrugated Fountain" is meant to be some kind of symbolic demise). But the exhibition does Grashow a world of good (on camera, at least), as he pronounces the work a success, and museum-goers of all ages in Connecticut apparently “get it,” when the piece is unveiled at its final stop, where it is celebrated…and then falls to pieces (seen in time-lapse photography). An entertaining bonbon for art aficionados, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)