shannon goff recreates her grandfather's 1979 lincoln continental in cardboard

shannon goff recreates her grandfather’s 1979 lincoln continental in cardboard
photography by PDRearick / courtesy of shannon goff

as a detroit native, artist shannon goff became inadvertently familiar with the rampant car culture of ‘motor city’. despite bearing witness to the rise and fall of industrial prosperity in the city, goff’s sculptural work on view at susanne hilberry gallery until november 14th, 2015 comes from a place of personal preoccupation. when she was 5, her grandfather purchased a special edition collector’s series 1979 lincoln continental mark V, painted in metallic turquoise with a white vinyl carriage roof, turquoise leather interior and a cartier clock. ‘best built for the highway, the mark V’s smooth ride conjured up the sensation of floating on a cloud,’ goff remembers.

for the exhibition in michigan, the artist has sculpted a full-scale replica of the ‘land yacht’ from cardboard, intricately forming every feature of the car using the paper medium. each part of the vehicle has been uniquely fabricated and folded, in turn reflecting the many hands that collectively created the vehicles on the lincoln assembly line years ago. titled ‘miles to empty’, the sculpture features an all-white exterior finish and a highly-detailed interior scheme, complete with paper dashboard buttons and a carved cardboard wheel.