Festival is a big wrap for an artist from France

French artist Yorga doesn't consider his work human. He prefers spider.

"I work more like an insect than a human being," said Yorga, one of the featured artists for the Utah Arts Festival. "My work will be to connect nature and architecture. Like a spider."

Using hundreds of yards of adhesive tape and plastic wrap as his medium ("like the silk of a spider"), Yorga, who only goes by his first name, has created a massive web-like display patrons can walk through, sit in and even be a part of. The quirky "archi-sculptor" will also tape willing volunteers to create human plastic molds to decorate festival grounds.

"When I started playing with tape, it really became a love affair," Yorga said, pulling a roll of tape and smiling. "I like the sound it can produce."

For six years, Yorga has created installations for various settings, including exhibitions, festivals and scenery for plays, concerts and parties. Known throughout Europe and parts of Canada, the artist is making his U.S. debut at the large arts festival installation east of the Salt Lake Library Plaza arc.

"I'm not here to show a sculpture," he said. "The people can get into the exhibition. They are not just buyers or viewers."

Yorga encourages his audience to interact with what he considers a "social work" by touching it, sitting on it and helping to build it. By Thursday afternoon, Yorga had created a large "hideout" where he was teaching children how to make their own creations from the recyclable materials.

"I never put a piece in the rubbish bin," he said. "It can be a sculpture or you can use it like a piece of furniture."

Some of the plastic wrap and adhesive tape in the festival exhibit was previously used in demonstrations Yorga had built on Main Street, and all of the materials will be transformed into furniture or sculptures. Yorga's installation will evolve throughout the festival, changing and becoming larger until Sunday, when the massive webs will be made into pieces he will sell.

Yorga said he loves creating a natural space out of an unnatural setting. By creating symbols of the insect world, like webs, cocoons and nests, he said he is not only exploring imagery but also creating useful sculptures.

"When people ask me, 'How did you do this?' I say it's not how I did it, it's what I did it with," he said. "When you see the material, you understand."