Short Film Saturday: The Banksy of Cardboard Curiosities

This L.A. artist is creating ephemeral works designed to dazzle—and then disintegrate.

“The world is an impossible place, and you can change it.” Those words from renegade artist Calder Greenwood have stayed with us ever since we first published this short film about him.

Greenwood is a prolific street artist who roams Los Angeles searching for the perfect homes for his fantastical creations: giraffes, giant pigeons, mammoth skulls, truck-sized spiders and even the occasional wizard. Calder chooses cardboard and papier-mâché as his mediums for the ephemeral quality of the materials, intentionally designing his creations to fall apart after only a few days. To him, beauty comes from recognizing the impermanence of all things.