You must have heard it said – one man’s trash is other man’s gold. For some people this is more than treasure; it is a source of artistic inspiration for them. Over years, many self-taught artists have created trash inspired creations. While some have been average for their intellect, some have been amazing pieces of art made from recycled materials. We have compiled a list of some of the coolest artists who have given trash (in various forms) a new life.
Largest display of recycled art
HA Schult is one person felicitated for his amazing trash arts which includes the largest display of recycled art ever made. Put together by Schult, this awesome artwork comprises 1000 trash men made from computer parts, plastic leftovers and aluminum cans. Schult was able to put the entire thing together in about six months and has displayed this out of the world collection at various worldwide venues including the Egyptian Pyramids, La Grande Arche and the Great Wall of China to name a few.
Pen refills used to make miniature world landmarks
Indian hobbyist M R Sreenivas collected pen refills from anywhere possible. But it wasn’t until he started collecting refills from schools and colleges under the Say No to Plastic program conducted to raise awareness of global warming, that he was struck with the idea of building incredible miniature sculptures using these discarded pen refills.
Sreenivas has created many famous landmark sculptures using the pen refills; these include the miniature sculpture of the Big Ben,Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower. Sreenivas is featured in the India Book of Records for the amazing mini sculpture of the Taj Mahal he made using 700 trashed pen refills.
Everyday trash transformed into captivating animal sculptures
Born in Colombia and based out of Miami, conceptual artist Federico Uribe is one artist who loves to transform everyday trash objects into art that is amazingly lifelike. One such artistic adventure is his Animal Farm – a collection of barnyard creatures made from all sorts of trash including rubber soles, clothespins etc. It also features farm workers made from pencils, pigs and horses made from scrap wood, cows made from rubber soles and a ram made of rope.
Tins can into remarkable artwork
Image Source : GildedBirds
Ghana-born artist El Anatsui is great at manipulating found items into magnificent pieces of art. Anatsui had been collecting tin cans and bottle lids for years before given them a sculptural indentation.Made from all kinds of trashed metal objects (thousands of which have been joined together), his creations are beautiful. They are like draping curtains which seem sliding down the walls.
Recycled celebrity portraits
Artist Jane Perkins is famous for her awesome portraits of famous personalities. Interestingly, these portraits are not made on canvas and with colors; instead these are made from left over plastic waste. Despite the materials being all different and of varying sizes, the portraits are immaculate and require no additional colors. Use of strangest of materials does not stop Jane from making portraits that are easily distinguishable and identifiable.
Life-sized willow whales
Like most of the other creations, the life-sized willow whales – two of them – have been made to raise plastic awareness. Made using 70,000 plastic bottles and Somerset Willow, the The Bristol Whales, as the sculpture is made, was unveiled to mark UK’s first European Green Capital. The sculpture that shows ‘humpback whales swimming through an ocean of plastic bottles’ weighs almost six tons
These conceptual artists have understood that recycled art is not just benefiting to environments, rather it also breathes life into old/discarded objects that would otherwise land up in dustbins.
