Ron Zeno, an orphan born in Munich, Germany in 1953; was adopted by Edgar Zeno, a soldier in the United States Navy and His wife Evelyn, who brought their new son to the States at age two. Early years were spent in New York and Louisiana; however, in 1958 the Zeno family settled in California where Ron currently resides.
Ron Zeno had always had an interest in art, but never had any formal training. In an attempt to pursue his desire to do something in the art industry, he decided to attend Los Angeles Trade Tech College following his graduation from Washington Preparatory High School. After only one semester, Ron left the Collage frustrated by the confines of the classroom and a teacher who measured Ron’s Zeno work as mediocre at best.
Ron Zeno then entered the workforce, doing countless jobs before settling on a career as a bus driver. Being a bus driver, Ron was left little time to explore his passion for art. However, it was during these busy days, in his many layover stops, between routes, which allowed him to explore his artistic talents. Being influenced by his mother, as a child he practiced drawing from comics, but with such a long time away from his passion, it was not until drawing from the back of his books of transfers and driver paperwork that his love for the art was rekindled. He no longer drew the heroes or villains from the comics, rather he now drew his fantasy themes which led him to create very imaginative castles and pyramids. But Ron did not stop there, He had the desire to bring his work off the page. In his yearning to create, Ron Zeno needed material. What could serve the purpose of bringing his 2 dimensional drawings into his 3 dimensional exploration?
Wanting material that would not be too expensive, he first thought of using foam core, a type of board used by some architects. Quickly realizing that the foam core would be very costly if he wanted to include very intricate detail in his works, Ron decided to attempt using the cardboard he had saved for recycling to do his models. From that idea, a world of beautiful cardboard creations spawned.
Ron gave his flat drawings of castle life by building his first model in 2006. Using mostly discarded pizza boxes and glue, Ron creates fully functional structures and machines like The Titanic, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids, Doll Houses and more, all built in stunning detail.
The dedicated energy and discipline to cut and paste all the intricate and exact moving parts of a replica of the Titanic, for example, cleverly highlights the energy to create the real thing.
With skills that are not diminished by his lack of training, Ron continues to fascinate those who watch him work, Whether it is watching him draw, keeping straight lines while usually using ink pens, or watching him build his exquisite cardboard creations without even recalling his grade school lessons on measuring; he delights the eye and captures true artistic prowess, He continues to create, taking several months to complete each piece, bringing to life his imagination as well as pictures from other media, never having traveled anywhere outside the United States to execute transformation of cardboard boxes into things of beauty.
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