On Friday, February 15, at 7:00 p.m., The Ridgefield Playhouse will screen The Cardboard Bernini, an award-winning film which examines the work and life of artist James Grashow as he builds a giant cardboard fountain inspired by the work of the famous baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. James Grashow is an artist who has built giant 15-foot-tall fighting men, a city, and an ocean, all by using paper maché, fabric, chicken wire and cardboard. A Q&A with filmmaker Olympia Stone and artist James Grashow follows the screening of this film, which will be the premiere at the Connecticut Film Festival this summer.
More recently, artist James Grashow began making sculptures entirely out of corrugated cardboard and twist ties. His intends for this work to reside outdoors where it will disintegrate. Director Olympia Stone, whose father is an art dealer, began documenting this process from the start. Jimmy’s “corrugated fountain” premiered to great acclaim indoors in June 2010 at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. After shows in New York City and Pittsburgh, Jimmy installed the fountain outdoors at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, CT on April 1, 2012. It was exhibited there for a total of six weeks, after which time Jimmy took his degraded cardboard masterpiece to the dumpster: “Ashes to ashes, mush to mush.”
For tickets ($15 adults, $10 seniors/students; VIP post- screening party at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum $30), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or get adult tickets online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. Call box office for student/senior & VIP Aldrich Museum tickets. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main St., Ridgefield, CT.
