See towering cardboard sculptures of Philly landmarks at artist Kambel Smith’s first big local show

For years, artist Kambel Smith worked tirelessly on the front lawn of his family’s Germantown rowhouse, creating finely detailed and impressively large sculptures of real buildings in Philly and around the world using nothing but cardboard, duct tape, foil, spray paint, and his mind.

Kambel said little as he worked, but his Germantown neighbors — who were blown away by his talents when they passed by — always had a lot to say. This is Philly, after all, and if you do something in public, people are going to have opinions.

Lonnie Smith, Kambel’s dad, would tell curious passersby that his son is an “Austarian,” a term they created to describe someone “who has a superhuman ability left by the so-called disorder, autism.” Kambel’s Austarian ability is that he creates his sculptures completely freehand, without any sketches, drafts, or measuring devices. And he’s entirely self-taught.

It was thanks to a passing neighbor, Barbara Gettes, who saw Kambel making a seven-piece model of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and posted it on a neighborhood Facebook group, that I became aware of his work and reached out to first share his story in 2019. (I’ve written about him six times since. I’m a big a fan.)

It was also thanks to Gettes that the Smith family was connected with Chris Byrne, cofounder of the Dallas Art Fair and owner of the Elaine de Kooning House in East Hampton, N.Y., who became Kambel’s curator. In the years since, Kambel has shown his work at art shows and galleries in Center City, New York City, Atlanta, Houston, and London, among other places. Kambel was a Pew Fellowship recipient in 2021 and his sculptures, which have fetched upward of $25,000, have been acquired by the West Collection, the American Folk Art Museum, and various private collectors.

But he’s never had a show in the Philly neighborhood that helped shape him — until now.

“Cardboard Genius: The Architectural Marvels of Kambel Smith,” an exhibit featuring 11 of Kambel’s sculptures, opened Saturday at the Germantown Historical Society and runs through June 29. It’s your chance to see his work up close, for it’s only in person that you can appreciate the detail, care, and precision he gives to each piece.

During an exhibit preview last week, Tuomi Forrest, executive director of Historic Germantown, said the society wanted to give Germantown residents and those in the surrounding neighborhoods a chance to experience Kambel’s work.

“It’s probably not an exaggeration to say more people in Texas have seen Kambel Smith’s work than in Germantown,” he said. “We’re gonna change that.”

Kambel’s sculptures look beautiful displayed across three rooms of the society’s Colonial Revival brick building. Some pieces, like his sculpture of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, I’d seen before, but this time, I noticed something new — accurate models of the PATCO High-Speed Line trains running alongside it. I know they’re accurate because a train enthusiast interrupted my conversation with Kambel to tell me what series the trains were and to compliment Kambel on his precision.

There are also pieces in the exhibit I’d never seen before, like Kambel’s towering yet intricate sculpture of the Chinatown Friendship Gate at 10th and Arch Streets or his monumental version of the Rodeph Shalom synagogue on North Broad Street, a building designed by Frank Furness, whose portrait he expertly drew on the back. Kambel, who’s skilled at many mediums, often incorporates drawings and paintings in his sculptures.

Also set up in the courtyard for the preview were two of Kambel’s largest works, his 26-foot version of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, and a 12-foot sculpture he made of the Statue of Liberty.

Unfortunately, the Burj Khalifa, which I wrote about shortly after Kambel completed it in the fall of 2023, can’t be permanently displayed as part of the exhibit because it’s too tall to fit inside and too delicate to withstand heavy winds or rains. It may be featured again during the exhibit, but Forrest couldn’t say when.

But Kambel’s sculpture of the Statue of Liberty — which I’d never seen before and took my breath away — will remain on display in the society’s entryway (the only place it will fit).

From the features of the Statue of Liberty’s face, to the flames in her torch and the folds in the fabric of her dress, Kambel continues to push the bounds of what cardboard is capable of as a medium and what we are capable of as human beings.

Not only does Kambel, 38, work entirely freehand, he works at lightning speed. While preparing for the exhibit, Forrest jokingly said to him, “It’d be cool if you did our building sometime.”

“Two weeks later, he did,” Forrest said. “We need a patron to buy this for us. I want it to stay here!”

Kambel told me it took him just two months to complete his Statue of Liberty and he estimated that he’s already made 15 sculptures since the start of this year.

“My superhuman ability is I can see scales without using no metric tools, no teachers, no taking art lessons,” he said.

I chatted with Kambel’s aunt, Lisa Locke, 61, of Germantown, during the reception and we agreed that whether you’re seeing his work for the first time or the 50th, it always leaves you gobsmacked. Locke said she didn’t take any photographs of the show because pictures don’t do Kambel’s sculptures justice.

“You have to see it in person to appreciate the cardboard. Like you’re looking at it like ‘This is cardboard?!? How?!?’ But it is because he’s got all this cardboard at home,” Locke said. “He blows my mind. I am so proud.”

Earlier this year, Lonnie’s landlord sold the house in Germantown where the family lived for 13 years and they’ve since relocated to Reading. Kambel — who’s currently working on a sculpture of the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series (I recited the opening monologue for him when I heard the news) — told me he really likes the quiet out there.

Lonnie misses Philly, but he said he’s happy his son has space to create his art and store his sculptures now.

“I think that I was given the responsibility to raise an amazing, amazing person and as you walk through [the exhibit] you cannot just look at his art, you can feel it, and that’s one of the things that makes it special,” he said. “And I hope that everybody can have that experience.”

“Cardboard Genius: The Architectural Marvels of Kambel Smith,” is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, or by appointment, at the Germantown Historical Society, 5501 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. The exhibit, which is free (donations are accepted), runs through June 29.