Mark Langan is a true exponent of environmental or green art. An artist living in Cleveland, Ohio, he is known to be highly skilled with various artistic mediums, but has concentrated since 2004 on working purely with reclaimed material. Fantastic sculptural works are brought into being using only corrugated cardboard, non-toxic glue, a razor knife, a cutting edge and mat.
Langan usually prefers to avoid using the term“green” because he has used reclaimed materials long before it became more fashionable to do so. His lone efforts to promote environmental consciousness may not have much impact on the mountains of waste material we see being discarded each day, but he sincerely hopes that his artworks will inspire other people to take recycling as seriously as he does himself. As he says “Corrugated board is a material that can be easily recycled over and over again.
I see it as an endless supply source that I purge from my trash and neighborhood, reusing it towards my creations. Artwork that is intriguing to the viewer whereas one might ponder quite some time over. A form of green art that makes a definitive statement with its contribution to the recycling movement”. An artist who taught himself how to achieve his visions, Mark began his one-man crusade of making reclaimed cardboard art acceptable shortly after being made redundant from his office job in transportation early 2004.
His passion for his art and environmental commitment is completely obvious in each of his astounding artistic creations, made more incredible by all of his designs being drawn freehand. For extra texture, he sets to making a paste of shredded cardboard, water, and glue, proving time and again how much a talented artist can do with quite basic ingredients.
Corrugated art is the name Mark gives to his fabulous creations, each showcasing the wonder of design that can be achieved using the unlikeliest of base materials, most which he scours from his own neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Every piece of corrugated card or fiberboard is saved from a local garbage heap, and finds a brand new existence as amazing artworks in the talented hands of Mark Langan.
Most of this remarkable man’s art is commissioned, in the form of major companies logos from owners who approve of their own brands being seen to be green through recycled cardboard company signs. Examples of these make it clear why so many want a logo produced in his inimitable style. Mark even reproduced Edvard Munch’s The Scream, a well-known, Symbolist art image depicting mankind’s anxiety, in a recycled cardboard homage that is a masterpiece in its own right.
Mark has become well respected globally and successful through artwork commissioned by paper, corrugated manufacturers, packaging companies, recycling firms, green industries, organizations and related events. His artwork currently adorns the boardrooms and lobbies from small to prominent firms throughout the U.S. He wants each of us to embrace his own philosophy that there can be beauty in everything we would normally discard, if only we take time to look hard enough.
This is perhaps the message within his corrugated art, a clear and strident appeal to all who view it. This fabulous artwork offers a different perspective on green issues, learning how to see things in a new light, in which creativity and environmental awareness can combine to offer the best of best worlds in natural and created art. Mark is obviously very passionate about his work, and proudly states… “If you like this just wait, the best is yet to come!” I for one believe him.
Informaion and images sourced from http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/march/mark-langan-corrugated-creativity http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/13/network-recycling http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/10/11/mark-langan-recycled-cardboard-art/ http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/beautiful-artwork-from-reclaimed-
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