Cardboard King

While most people take photographs as a way to create lasting memories, this intrepid artist found a unique way to make his. On a mission to remember the residents at his grandparents’ home village in Shaoxing, China, one person at a time, Warren King, 49, crafted a series of life-size human figures out of nothing more than cardboard and glue.

It was in 2010 that he and his brothers visited Shaoxing for the first time, and met the locals who had memories of their grandparents from 50 years ago, before they left for Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War.

“The feeling was profound and surreal, and somewhat contradictory,” he recalls. “I felt such a strong connection to those people, who were like a part of the past that was lost. But at the same time, our differences – in clothing, physical appearance, mannerisms – made it obvious that there existed a huge chasm between us. Something found, but at the same time, the realisation of something lost. It was a pivotal experience for me, one that inspired me to become an artist. Through my work, I am attempting to understand the fragile connections to people and culture, and examine whether those connections, once broken, can be restored.”

Thrill Of Nostalgia

The child of Chinese immigrants who went to the US for graduate school, Warren was born and raised in the suburbs of Wisconsin. His uncles and aunts were accomplished businesspeople and scientists, and his parents were hardworking, strict disciplinarians, who expected him to excel academically and to support the family engineering business.

He studied engineering and eventually became a structural engineer working on large-scale commercial buildings like stadiums, hospitals, offices and carparks. Subsequently, he worked as a software company executive for 15 years; becoming an artist was never a consideration.

“Art came much later in life,” he admits. “Even after my first exhibition, being called an artist felt awkward. But I’ve been working at this for a few years now. After experiencing how people can be genuinely touched by what I have to convey, and getting an idea of the range of subjects that can be explored, I can finally say that I feel compelled to continue.”