Artist Voices: Josh Gluckstein

Josh Gluckstein is a London-based wildlife artist with sustainability at the impactful core of his practice. His majestic life-size animal sculptures are made entirely out of cardboard, owing to a dedication towards a zero-waste process. Josh is motivated by seeing the animals he captures in real life and wanting to recreate not just their unique expressions and personalities, but also their significance to our planet.

Recently, Josh’s dad sent him an old school report, which read that ‘Josh seems to have a real interest in art.’ Fast forward, and Josh’s work has been presented all over the world and his conservation efforts recognised by institutions such as WWF, Helping Rhinos and Born Free.

As part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations, we visited Josh at his London home studio to hear about his career journey with Affordable Art Fair, discuss his artistic inspirations, and his countless sleepless nights thinking about cardboard.

How did Josh’s career as an artist take off?

We’re really proud that Affordable Art Fair helps to tell the story of Josh’s career to date. Uninspired by his education in traditional painting, Josh turned to sculpture whilst at university. After trial and error with found objects and charity shop items – faux sheepskin, shoes, curtain tassels – and several apprehensive looks from his tutors, Josh began turning his animal obsession into art. Bernard, the magnificent camel, was born. Exciting things were about to happen!

We contacted Josh in 2013 to join a roster of emerging talent for our Recent Graduate show at Affordable Art Fair Battersea. Josh visited this fair many times as a child with his family, and he immediately recognised the enormity of the opportunity. In fact, he called everyone he knew. Bernard the camel greeted visitors as they entered the fair and, although several bites didn’t actualise into a sale, on the last day of the fair it became apparent that Will, our CEO and Founder, had wanted to add Bernard to his own personal art collection all along. This gave Josh the confidence to feel as though he could keep going as an artist.

 “It has all stemmed from being given a chance. It opens your eyes to what’s possible.”

After further travels, from Borneo to Rajasthan, lockdown scuppered plans for Josh to return to Affordable Art Fair in 2020 for a ‘Recent Graduates Revisited’ exhibition. Channeling the disappointment, Josh continued with making sculptures at home. But without the opportunity to go out and find materials, he spent three sleepless nights working out how to use the stacks of cardboard he’d amounted from online deliveries. As soon as he got to work, he realised he’d landed on something special.

“And the rest is history…”

When everything started to open up and events were back on, Josh had storming success at Affordable Art Fair; finding representation with Woolf Gallery, putting on group shows then solo shows, and finally being able to give back to the animals he loves so much from a percentage of his sales. Now, Josh gives back regularly.

What’s next for Josh?

The pieces currently in Josh’s home will soon be heading to South Korea and, whilst it’s always sad to see a sculpture leave, he’s happy when someone finds the same love for the animals that he does. He’ll also be heading to Venice this summer during the Biennale for a show at Homo Faber: The Journey of Life. Throughout this show, curated by Luca Guadagnino (also known for Directing Challengers and Call Me by Your Name), Josh will showcase his most ambitious piece to date. Inspired by scuba diving and his awe of the underwater world, he’ll create a 2.5 metre coral reef sculpture made of recycled cardboard. The piece celebrates the wonder and rich biodiversity of our oceans, while raising awareness for the different challenges facing our marine life. 

“We all know about plastic pollution.”

He wants to start placing animals into their natural habitats and ecosystems to demonstrate how important it is for these to be unpolluted; a reminder of what our beaches and oceans might looks like without every inch covered in washed up plastic waste. This includes a new coral reef sculpture, with 10% of proceeds donated to Oceana; the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation.

It’ll be a joy to watch Josh’s career continue to grow as he navigates combining his passion for animals with a feeling of rehabilitation. You can follow Josh on Instagram at @joshglucksteinartist to be amongst the first to hear any exciting updates!

Supporting emerging artists and nurturing new talent has been at the heart of what we do since the very beginning, aiming to spot raw talent and help young artists take that first, sometimes challenging, step into the contemporary art world. Find out why… 👇