Our very busy schedules have driven our environment to be as fast-paced lifestyle. We are constantly bombarded by instant products. There are instant noodles, microwaveable food, and disposable products like cups and utensils; all of which have very short life spans. And when we’re through with them, they usually end up going to our trash bins and eventually some place to be buried, incinerated or recycled.
For most people, garbage is usually seen as something unattractive and to a certain degree disgusting. This case is not true to some artists though. For them, the things that most people discard are the building blocks of their creative masterpieces. Today, we’ll be showcasing 10 artists who have managed to transform junk into art.
Tom Deininger – Rhode Island based artist Tom Deining creates large found object artworks which he usually sells to public and private collectors all over the world. Deining uses different materials for his artworks such as ordinary household items, cigarette filters or other scavenger materials.
Georgina Goodman – Georgina Goodman is an English shoe designer who was featured in last year’s London Fashion week for her amazing signature scratch stripe sole shoes. But Georgina Goodman proves she’s not just your typical shoe designer when she created a pair of couture shoes fashioned from aluminum drinks cans.
Goodman hopes that the trend to use recyclable products in fashion will catch on and other designers will start to produce garments and accessories from completely renewable resources. Her site is still currently under construction, but you might want to check out her work in several online retailers.
Nike – Retail sneakers giant Nike has teamed up with Phoenix Suns Steve Nash to create a one-of-a-kind basketball shoe created from waste materials. Based on the Nike Zoom BB II Low, The Nike Trash Talk is made from a variety of recovered materials.
The outsole of the shoe uses environmentally-preferred rubber. The mid-sole uses scrap-ground foam from factory production, while the rest of the upper portion of shoe is made from stitched leather and synthetic leather waste from the factories.
Mana Bernardes – Los Angeles based jewelry designer, poet and visual artist Mana Bernandes is the woman behind Touch’s Mana Collection of jewelries. Born and raised in Rio di Janeiro, Brazil, Bernardes used ordinary materials like ceramics, tableware and other recycled items to make the collection unique and extraordinary.
Materials used in the creation of the jewelries include PET bottles, phone cards, toothpicks, hair clips and plastic netting to name a few. These materials are combined with other more exquisite materials like pearl and gold in order to achieve the effect of sophistication and class.
Ryan McElhinney – Ryan McElhinney on the other hand uses a host of materials that he usually gets from local thrift and house clearance stores. McElhinney was born in Ireland but later on worked in the United States as an animator on Fox. However, he found his passion not on creating cartoons, but in designing furniture and fixtures from recycled materials for interior spaces.
McElhinney and his designs have won numerous awards like the Arizona Designer of the Year award, Peugeot Design awards, BIDA and FX awards to name a few. He is currently based in London while his creations are displayed and can be bought at London’s Mint & Liberty and Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford.
Yellow Port – Brazilian company, Yellow port is another retailer that offers shoes and apparel created using recycled products. To be specific, the company uses truck’s canvas to create shoes, belts, purses, backpacks, jackets and other fashion related garments and accessories.
Haroshi – Haroshi is a Japanese artist who created works for art out of recycled skateboard decks. Haroshi stacks the skateboard decks and carves, cut and polishes them with his favorite tools. A unique feature with Haroshi’s work is that each piece contains a metal object within the stacks of wooden boards. According to Haroshi, this is very similar to how Japanese sculptors in the past use materials such as crystals to embed in their artwork that symbolizes the artist’s intention to give his creation a “soul”.
Tim Noble and Sue Webster – Tim Noble and Sue Webster are the dynamic duo from England that creates seemingly useless art installations that surprisingly come to life when directional lighting is used. Moreover, the use of scraps, taxidermy creatures and discarded waste, adds to the impressive transformation of the art pieces from pieces of garbage to creative and fancy projected images.
You can check out their vast collection of artworks on their website using this link.
Jeff Ivanhoe – Similar to Georgina Goodman, Arizona-based artist Jeff Ivanhoe uses discarded aluminum cans for his mosaic art. His works have been featured in several publications including Travelhost magazine, MyLIFE Magazine and numerous private collections.
Guerra De la Paz – Guerra Dela Paz is actually a duo composed of Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz. The two were both born in Cuba but are currently living in Miami, Florida. Most of their works feature the use of clothes to create art installations that depict a variety of issues.
Their work has been exhibited throughout the United States and other parts of Europe including galleries in New York, London, Florida and Wisoncsin.
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