Cardboard Gandhi

An American artist has made a 17ft cardboard statue of Mahatma Gandhi – and published step-by-step instructions on the internet to help others do the same. The over-size sculpture of the Indian icon - complete with glasses and walking stick - has been unveiled at the Eyebeam gallery in New York.

The model is a tribute to Gandhi’s 248 mile Salt March across in India in 1930 in protest against British taxes. Artist Joseph DeLappe built the statue after recreating the march with the help of a treadmill and the online world Second Life earlier this year.

DeLappe spent 26 days walking with a digital Gandhi character across the game’s virtual landscape. The steps he took on the treadmill powered his Gandhi avatar's progress through Second Life.

"After walking with Gandhi for 240 miles I decided it would be interesting to recreate him in monumental scale,” he said.

The cardboard Gandhi, which is the same height as Michelangelo’s David sculpture, took 24 days to build and is held together with glue alone.

DeLappe created the sculpture in pieces so it could be taken apart and stored, or shipped to new venues.

Unfortunately DeLappe's made a blog about it HERE