Artist Turns Cardboard Boxes and Recycled Paper Into Life-Size Sculptures

Claudio Barake is a realist sculptor from Sao Paulo Brazil. He makes life-size sculptures inspired by nature using cardboard. Before Claudio started to make sculptures he worked with various mediums. It was the growing awareness about the planet and depleting natural resources that made him start experimenting with recycled materials. His sculptures constructed using cardboard are robust and sturdy, almost like metal sculptures.

He uses only cardboard boxes, paper scraps and pick up boxes that are collected by him on the streets. He finds cardboard boxes as a suitable "raw material taken from nature unworthy to us."

Each sculpture can take up to eight months to complete from beginning till end, until it's completely dried. Each part is separately sculpted, and dried slowly to prevent parts from bending during the drying process. Once dried, the details are added using acrylic paint which makes the sculptures come to life. His sculptures, prints, drawings and paintings can be found at Saatchi Art.