For centuries, artists have reclaimed items to turn them into their
art: whether it’s reusing canvases (as X-rays demonstrate almost all the
old masters did) or incorporating found items into sculptures, such as
pop artist Robert Rauschenberg’s creative way of reusing items ranging
from bicycles to roosters. These artists, though, take it to a whole new
level.
10. Carhenge
Carhenge by Jim Reinders
Named by TripAdvisor as the second wackiest attraction in America
(second only to a toilet seat museum in San Antonio that, ironically,
has no public restrooms),
Carhenge is
probably the best known work of art on this list. Located in Alliance
in Western Nebraska, this car sculpture by Jim Reinders incorporates 38
automobiles into the life-sized replica of the famous stone monoliths in
Stonehenge, England. Future generations will assume it had something to
do with the annual progression of the sun.
9. Animals and People Made from Discarded Plastic Parts
A dog sculpture by Robert Bradford
Anyone who has a child (or has been one) knows that plastic toys
don’t last forever. However, even after they go to the landfill, the
broken pieces can last for decades, even centuries. Enter artist
Robert Bradford,
who turns such misfit toys into playful, colorful works of art. His
life-sized and supersized sculptures of animals, people, and
architecture utilize discarded plastic items such as toys, brushes,
combs, and more. If Bradford has his way, these works of art will be
truly immortal in a way we all hope landfills won’t be.
8. Portraits Made from Found Items
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Jane Perkins
Originally a textile artist,
Jane Perkins moved
to reclaimed plastics. In her fun, colorful creations, she draws
inspiration from objects found in the trash. Starting with a large photo
or artwork, she matches up and attaches colored objects such as
buttons, bobbles and fragments, to create 3-D versions of such classics
as the Mona Lisa and Girl with a Pearl Earring and portraits of people
like Queen Elizabeth II of England and President Barack Obama. Her art
is inspired by bowerbirds, who collect objects like shells, pieces of
glass, stones and discarded plastic to turn their nests into living
works of art.
7. Angels Made from Guns
Renaissance Peace Angel by Lin Evola
In the 1990s, as gun violence plagued Los Angeles, artist Lin Evola
(then Evola-Smidt) developed a creative solution. She convinced L.A.
residents to relinquish their guns, which were then melted down and used
to create statues of angels. What began as a small project grew larger,
with Evola increasing the size of the statues to be featured in parks.
Her 13-foot-tall angel, “The Renaissance Peace Angel,” was moved to
Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She has since expressed an
interest in
a global version of her project,
which would decrease the “proliferation of small firearms, light
artillery and other weapons of war.” How beautiful would that be?
6. Realistic Animals from Discarded Plastic
Light by Sayaka Ganz
The “reclaimed creations” of artist
Sayaka Ganz are
so stunningly graceful that it’s hard to believe they are made from
things that someone threw out. Composed from thrift store plastics,
these astonishing works are inspired by the Shinto belief that all
objects and organisms have spirits. Her artist’s statement says that she
strives to help each object to transcend its origin by being integrated
into organic forms “that are alive and in motion.” And when you see one
of her horse sculptures galloping across a gallery, it seems she’s
achieved her goal.
5. Celebrity Portraits from Cassette Tapes
Jimi Hendrix by Erika Iris Simmons
Self-taught artist
Erika Iris Simmons takes
a post-modern approach to pop art, with imagery based on concepts of
data and memory. But whether or not that statement makes sense to you,
her astounding portraits of musical celebrities — fashioned in looping
lines from cassette tapes — will blow your mind. In her artist statement
about her “Ghosts in the Machine” series of such portraits, she writes,
“I imagine we are all, like cassettes, thoughts wrapped up in awkward
packaging.” Her gift is to find the elegant beauty inside such packages.
4. Intricate Abstract Sculptures Made from Books
You Can Do Nothing by Brian Dettmer
In this day of digital publishing, are books becoming archaic? Artist
Brian Dettmer is
doing his best to make sure books are remembered: if not for their
intended purpose than through his imaginative sculptures. He begins by
sealing the edges of an existing book, creating a stable surface. Then,
using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, he carves into them. One page
at a time, he creates layered images, sometimes representational (a
gear or a house shape) but often abstract and always dreamlike.
3. Fantastic Landscapes Made from Food
Onion Mahal by Carl Warner
From his earliest days, listening to music and drawing in his room,
inspired by posters of work by Salvador Dali, Patrick Woodroofe and
album artist Roger Dean,
artist Carl Warner created
his own worlds. Those lush inner landscapes are now transformed into
“foodscapes,” creating miniature landscapes using pins and super glue.
The no-longer-edible sculptures have a limited shelf life, but thanks to
Warner’s other love — photography — he sees that each is immortalized
in breathtaking wonder. Children and adults will have fun viewing his
works and figuring out exactly what formed each portion of it: from
lentil gravel to real onion-bulb cathedrals.
2. Leaves Made from Human Hair
Leaf sculpture by Jenine Shereos
Artist Jenine Shereos, who specializes in textiles — creating lace based on tree shadows, for example — fashioned
a series of amazing intricate leaves by
wrapping, stitching and knotting together strands of human hair onto a
water soluble material. When that material is washed away, what results
are skeletal leaves that look exactly like the veining that underlies an
autumn leaf. Shereos calls her painstaking creation process
“meditative,” and it’s easy to imagine that each leaf is suffused with
the thoughts that ran through her mind as she was fashioning them.
1. Shadow Sculptures Made from Garbage
Wild Mood Swings by Tim Noble & Sue Webster
At first, it looks like a pile of garbage, but shine a light on it, and you’re likely to gasp in surprise.
Sculptors Tim Noble and Sue Webster
assemble cast-off materials like scrap metal and wood into sculptures
that take on new life when hit the right way with a beam of light. A
pile of nondescript garbage, or a series of elongated metal scraps,
turns into a detailed portrait in silhouette. Check out their
sculptures, and you’ll never look at garbage the same way.
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