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James Grashow
James Grashow
James Grashow
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James Bruce Grashow (January 16, 1942 – September 15, 2025) was an American sculptor and woodcut artist. He is perhaps best known for his sculptures and large-scale installations (such as cities, fountains, and menageries) made of cardboard.[1][2]

Key Information

Grashow was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 16, 1942,[3] and received his BFA (1963) and MFA (1965) degrees from Pratt Institute.[4] He then received a Fulbright Travel Grant to study in Florence.[2] Based in Redding, Connecticut,[5] his works have been exhibited at many museums including the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts;[6] the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts;[7] the Center for the Arts at SUNY Purchase[8] the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia,[9] and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut.[1][10]

Grashow also created cover art for record albums such as Jethro Tull's 1969 album Stand Up and the 1971 Yardbirds album Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page.[2]

He is the subject of a 2012 documentary entitled The Cardboard Bernini, describing the creation, exhibition, anticipated decay, and ultimate destruction of an enormous cardboard fountain, inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome and the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.[1][11]

James is also featured in a 2025 documentary titled Jimmy & The Demons from director Cindy Meehl. The film premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.[12] Grashow died at the age of 83 on September 15, 2025 in Redding, Connecticut, from pancreatic cancer.[3][13]

References

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James Grashow

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James Grashow was an American sculptor, printmaker, and woodcut artist known for his large-scale installations and sculptures crafted from ephemeral materials such as corrugated cardboard, which explored themes of mortality, nature, and the impermanence of human endeavor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942, he transformed humble, everyday materials into monumental, often witty works that blended humor with profound reflections on life and decay. Grashow died on September 15, 2025, at his home in Redding, Connecticut, at the age of 83 from pancreatic cancer. Grashow's career spanned several decades, during which he created ambitious cardboard environments and sculptures that challenged conventional notions of permanence in art. His notable works include The Ocean (1988), an immersive gallery-filling installation featuring printed cardboard elements such as an ocean liner and towering waves, and YaZoo (1998), a life-size menagerie of corrugated animals that highlighted his playful yet thoughtful approach to scale and material. One of his most celebrated projects was Corrugated Fountain (also known as the Cardboard Bernini), a multi-year endeavor inspired by Rome's Trevi Fountain that deliberately incorporated the material's fragility, culminating in its outdoor display and eventual natural disintegration as a commentary on temporality. In his later years, Grashow produced The Cathedral (also called the Cathedral of Saint Jimmy), a five-foot basswood carving depicting Christ bearing a Renaissance cathedral while tormented by demons, which he described as a devotional meditation on life's joys, impermanence, and the struggle to maintain faith amid chaos. This work, completed near the end of his life, was documented in the feature film Jimmy and the Demons. Beyond sculpture, Grashow created wood engravings and editorial illustrations, including contributions to The New York Times Op-Ed page, and his pieces are held in collections at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. He was also recognized as an influential educator, known for his teaching and community workshops that encouraged creative exploration with cardboard and paper.

Early life and education

Birth and family background

James Bruce Grashow, also known as Jimmy Grashow, was born on January 16, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He was the middle of three children born to Edward Grashow, who owned a company that produced cardboard boxes. Public information about his early family life remains limited, with few additional verified details available regarding his parents or siblings beyond his father's occupation and the Brooklyn setting of his upbringing. Grashow later resided in Redding, Connecticut.

Education and early training

James Grashow earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Arts from Pratt Institute in 1963. He continued his graduate studies at the same institution, receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in Art Education in 1965. Following the completion of his MFA, Grashow was awarded a Fulbright scholarship that enabled him to spend a year studying in Florence, Italy. This international experience represented the final stage of his formal artistic training before he transitioned into his professional career.

Artistic career

Album cover designs

James Grashow produced several notable album covers in the late 1960s and early 1970s, marking his early professional work as an illustrator and designer. One of his most celebrated contributions was the artwork for Jethro Tull's Stand Up, released in 1969. The gatefold sleeve featured wood engravings on the front and back covers, showing the band members seated on the front and walking away on the back, while the interior revealed a three-dimensional pop-up of the four musicians standing upright when the album opened. Grashow, then a recent art school graduate specializing in woodcuts, was commissioned by the band's manager Terry Ellis following a recommendation, and the pop-up concept originated from the band's desire for an interactive element. A well-known quirk of the design is that Ian Anderson appears with six fingers on one hand, an accidental result of Grashow's cutting process that later drew fan speculation. Grashow also designed the cover for The Yardbirds' Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page, released in 1971, where he received credit for the artwork. Unlike the interactive format of Stand Up, this cover did not incorporate pop-up or three-dimensional construction. The Stand Up pop-up sleeve represented an early experiment with three-dimensional paper engineering in his graphic work, which would later connect to his shift toward sculptural practices. These album designs remain among his prominent early achievements in commercial illustration before he pursued full-time sculpture.

Development of cardboard sculpture

James Grashow transitioned to cardboard as his primary sculptural medium in the 1970s, building on his earlier career in woodcut illustration and commercial printmaking. After earning his BFA in Graphic Arts in 1963 and MFA in Art Education in 1966 from Pratt Institute, followed by a Fulbright year studying painting and graphics in Florence, Italy, he began exploring large-scale sculpture. His shift emphasized corrugated cardboard's accessibility and conceptual depth, marking a deliberate evolution from graphic work to three-dimensional installations. Grashow embraced cardboard for its ubiquity, disposability, and resonance with human impermanence, viewing it as an ideal partner for creativity. He described the material as "grateful for the opportunity to become something" and noted that "we’re dispensable; we’re disposable; we’re finite, just like cardboard," forging a profound connection between the medium and existential themes. The valuelessness of cardboard liberated artistic play, as he saw it as "the gate back" for anyone seeking reconnection with making. He often highlighted its temporal fragility, stating that "the fragility and the temporal nature of cardboard really marks my identity." His cardboard works evolved into ambitious, large-scale installations such as menageries, cities, and environmental groupings, constructed through techniques including extrusion—connecting forms with cardboard strips—as well as bending, pushing, and twisting the material. These pieces were intentionally temporary, designed to deteriorate when exposed to the elements, which underscored their ephemeral quality and Grashow's interest in mortality. He frequently led participatory workshops, enabling collaborative construction and emphasizing cardboard's accessibility for all ages. This development solidified cardboard as Grashow's signature material, allowing him to create accessible, large-scale works that fused whimsical forms with darker undertones influenced by Pop Art and traditional printmaking. His approach prioritized the medium's inherent qualities over permanence, establishing a distinctive body of sculpture centered on ephemerality and creative liberation.

Exhibitions

James Grashow's innovative cardboard sculptures have been showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and art centers, emphasizing his mastery of ephemeral materials. He has had multiple solo exhibitions at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, including "YaZOO!" in 1998, which transformed the Leir Gallery into an immersive zoo of life-size wild animals crafted from plain and corrugated cardboard, complete with visitor walkways and cages, created in collaboration with local high school students through the museum's DesignWorks program. Earlier solo shows at the same museum included "The Ocean" in 1988, a large-scale cardboard environment featuring an ocean liner, lighthouse, and waves, as well as woodcut print exhibitions in 1984. In 2012, the Aldrich hosted the final public presentation of "Corrugated Fountain," a monumental corrugated cardboard work inspired by Bernini's Trevi Fountain, deliberately displayed outdoors to facilitate its gradual destruction by natural elements as an integral part of the piece's concept. Grashow also participated in group exhibitions at other institutions, such as the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where his site-specific "The Great Monkey Project"—an installation of over 100 life-size cardboard monkeys—was featured in "Going Ape: Confronting Animals in Contemporary Art" in 2006. His "Corrugated Fountain" was previously exhibited indoors at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, among other locations, before its Aldrich showing. Additional exhibitions of his work have taken place at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and the Center for the Arts at SUNY Purchase.

Major works

Cardboard fountain project

James Grashow's Corrugated Fountain is a monumental sculpture constructed entirely from corrugated cardboard, serving as a deliberate homage to the Baroque fountains of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and specifically the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The 25-by-17-foot work, featuring a 14-foot-tall central figure of Poseidon with his trident alongside dolphins, seahorses, trumpeting angels, a harpy, conches, and cresting waves, took four years to build. Grashow intentionally designed the fountain for outdoor placement and exposure to the elements, allowing rain, wind, and weather to gradually dissolve and destroy the cardboard structure as an essential aspect of the artwork's concept. This impermanence reflected his philosophical embrace of decay, inspired by observing earlier outdoor sculptures deteriorate, enabling him to act as the deliberate architect of the piece's inevitable mortality rather than leaving it to chance. The artist described the intent as creating something heroic and seemingly eternal while acknowledging its fundamental impossibility due to the material's fragility. The fountain was exhibited outdoors, including a prominent installation at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, beginning April 1, 2012, after two years of touring, where its ongoing deterioration became part of the viewing experience. The project was documented in the 2012 film The Cardboard Bernini.

The Cathedral wooden sculpture

The Cathedral is a major late-career wooden sculpture by James Grashow, marking his shift from ephemeral cardboard constructions to the enduring, contemplative process of hand-carved wood. Grashow began the piece at age 79 around 2021 and spent four years completing it, working detail by detail in basswood until near the end of his life. The sculpture depicts an anguished Christ bearing the weight of a Renaissance-era cathedral on his back while demons claw at him from below, contrasted by meticulously carved glorious angels and other symbolic figures that represent a profound competition between light and darkness. Measuring five feet tall, this intricately detailed work serves as a devotional tribute to life's joys and impermanence, embodying themes of mortality, faith, temptation, and redemption in a chaotic world. Grashow described it as unlike anything he had done before, requiring him to retool his approach from previous woodcuts and cardboard pieces to achieve its depth and finish. Regarded as his magnum opus, The Cathedral was the central subject of the 2025 documentary Jimmy & The Demons.

Artistic style and philosophy

Use of ephemeral materials

James Grashow became widely recognized for his signature use of corrugated cardboard as a primary medium for large-scale sculptures, embracing its inherently ephemeral and impermanent qualities. He described cardboard as deeply connected to mortality, noting that it “understands its mortality” and “knows that it’s destined for trash,” while its “valuelessness” liberated creativity and made it “the DNA of creativity.” Grashow viewed the material as a perfect partner for playful exploration, stating that “everything that lives between the good stuff and garbage becomes a perfect partner for play.” He emphasized its ephemerality, saying “It’s so ephemeral. It’s so grateful for the opportunity to become something, because it knows it’s going to be trash.” Grashow approached cardboard with sculptural techniques, treating it as a malleable medium by bending, pushing, and twisting it into form, often employing an extrusion method to connect shapes with strips of the material. He constructed durable yet temporary large-scale installations that could withstand initial display but were intentionally subject to decay, aligning with his philosophy of accepting the material’s transient nature. This approach culminated in works such as the Corrugated Fountain, a grand-scale piece inspired by the Trevi Fountain that took years to build and was deliberately exhibited outdoors, where its destruction by natural elements was planned as an integral part of the work. Grashow chose cardboard to highlight human temporality, describing the combination of water and cardboard as an oxymoron that reflected existential dilemmas while attempting to create something heroic yet absurdly fleeting. Late in his career, while in his late 70s, Grashow shifted from cardboard to woodcarving in search of a more enduring medium. This transition marked a departure from his earlier embrace of impermanence, as seen in his final major project executed in basswood. Throughout his use of ephemeral materials, Grashow consistently prioritized the poetic tension between ambitious creation and inevitable dissolution.

Themes of creation and impermanence

James Grashow's work consistently explores the interplay between creation and impermanence, often through the intentional use of transient materials that embody cycles of construction and inevitable decay. His sculptures frequently begin as heroic acts of making—ambitious, detailed forms aspiring to permanence—only to incorporate their own dissolution as an essential element, whether through exposure to natural elements or deliberate design. This approach serves as a meditation on human temporality, where the drive to create something grand confronts the reality of transience. Grashow has described cardboard as a medium particularly suited to these themes, stating that it is “so ephemeral” and “so grateful for the opportunity to become something because it knows it’s going to be trash.” By elevating disposable materials into monumental expressions, his art underscores the beauty of everyday ephemera while reminding viewers of physical impermanence and mortality. He has further explained projects as vehicles to express “growing awareness of our temporality,” embracing the “poetic absurdity” of attempting to craft something eternal from inherently fragile substances. In later works, these ideas persist in explorations of light and darkness, with sculptures presented as devotional tributes to “life’s joys and impermanence.” Such pieces reflect an ongoing philosophical engagement with mortality, where creation becomes a means of confronting inevitable loss. These themes appear in documentary accounts of his process, which portray the artist's acceptance of decay as a liberating acknowledgment of what is ultimately unavoidable.

Documentaries

The Cardboard Bernini (2012)

The Cardboard Bernini is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Olympia Stone that examines the life and artistic process of sculptor James Grashow, centering on his creation of a monumental cardboard fountain. The film follows Grashow over four years as he constructs the large-scale work from corrugated cardboard, inspired by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and intended from the outset to be impermanent. It chronicles the building process, the sculpture's exhibition outdoors at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and its deliberate exposure to the elements for natural decay and dissolution, exploring themes of creation, loss, and human temporality. The documentary is propelled by a pivotal personal event in Grashow's life—the discovery in 2006 of his earlier papier-mâché sculptures deteriorating after the death of his longtime dealer Allan Stone—which inspired his shift toward embracing ephemerality as an integral aspect of art. Stone, the daughter of Allan Stone, directed the film over several years, capturing Grashow's reflections on mortality, artistic legacy, and the poetic absurdity of crafting something heroic yet doomed in cardboard. The 57-minute feature has an IMDb user rating of 7.5/10 based on 26 votes.

Jimmy & The Demons (2025)

Jimmy & The Demons is a 2025 documentary directed by Cindy Meehl that received its world premiere in the Spotlight Documentary section at the Tribeca Film Festival. The 93-minute feature provides an intimate portrait of sculptor James Grashow as he dedicates four years, beginning at age 79, to crafting his magnum opus, the wooden sculpture The Cathedral. Commissioned by a longtime patron, the five-foot work depicts an anguished Christ bearing the weight of a Renaissance-era cathedral on his back while demons claw from below, contrasted with images of salvation and glorious angels. Meehl's patient observation captures the physical and emotional demands of Grashow's obsessive carving process, which unfolds amid his confrontation with mortality and the fragility of life. The film highlights his enduring humor, philosophical depth, and profound love for his wife Guzzy, blending moments of anguish with tears of joy as he places tiny angels into their niches. The sculpture emerges as a symbolic competition between light and darkness, functioning as a devotional tribute to life's joys and impermanence. Through this multi-year chronicle, the documentary celebrates creativity's power to confront existence, portraying Grashow as he addresses his greatest fears and uncertainties "one demon at a time."

Personal life and death

Marriage and family

James Grashow married Lesley in 1968, and their marriage endured until his death in 2025. The couple had two children and were grandparents to five grandchildren. They resided in Redding, Connecticut, where they built their family life and maintained a diverse circle of friends across different ages and professions. Grashow and his wife Lesley shared a home in the community for many years, raising their children there.

Illness and death

James Grashow died on September 15, 2025, at his home in Redding, Connecticut, at the age of 83. The cause of his death was pancreatic cancer, as confirmed by his wife, Lesley Grashow. Grashow was diagnosed with cancer just as the documentary film Jimmy and the Demons was being readied for its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2025. Despite his illness, he was able to attend all four screenings of the film and receive the praise it garnered.

References

  1. https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-the-cathedral-of-st-jimmy/
  2. https://thealdrich.org/exhibitions/james-grashow-corrugated-fountain
  3. https://www.allthingspaper.net/2014/04/james-grashow-cardboard-art.html
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/arts/design/james-grashow-dead.html
  5. https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/james-grashow
  6. https://www.jamesgrashow.com/bio.cfm
  7. https://www.theridgefieldpress.com/arts-leisure/article/Redding-artist-James-Grashow-discusses-his-love-15264265.php
  8. https://www.pratt.edu/prattfolio/stories/james-grashow-the-message-in-the-medium/
  9. https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-six-fingered-secrets-of-jethro-tulls-stand-up-album-sleeve-revealed
  10. https://classicrecordsleeves.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/stand-up-jethro-tull/
  11. https://www.discogs.com/master/229824-The-Yardbirds-Live-Yardbirds-Featuring-Jimmy-Page
  12. https://www.cardboarders.com/2012/contemporary-sculpture-james-grashow/
  13. https://thealdrich.org/exhibitions/yazoo-james-grashow
  14. https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/concord-journal/2006/08/24/100-plus-monkeys-at-decordova/39206457007/
  15. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/nyregion/james-grashow-corrugated-fountain-in-ridgefield.html
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/arts/design/the-cardboard-bernini-a-film-about-james-grashow.html
  17. https://tribecafilm.com/films/jimmy-the-demons-2025
  18. https://068magazine.com/art-in-the-spotlight-jimmy-grashow/
  19. https://fullercraft.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/James-Grashow-Monkeys-Press-Release-final.pdf
  20. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2238086/
  21. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2238086/plotsummary/
  22. https://www.wmm.com/sponsored-project/jimmy/
  23. https://www.jimmyandthedemons.com/
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