One Man’s Trash – Part One

Art, Bizarre — By BB Admin on September 1, 2011 12:00 am

It’s true what they say – one man’s (or woman’s) trash, is another one’s treasure. Many artists take an environmental stance and create art out of things that would otherwise be thrown away. Some of the pieces of art are very large – sculptures and parts of buildings, and others are very small. Take a look at these amazing pieces of art.  You can’t really called them REcycled, because they aren’t being reused for a similar purpose.  You’d called them UPcycled, because these artist have literally taken something that has been thrown away and have made something better out of it.  It’s a real term – look it up.

Skull Head

Environmentalist and artist Phil Hall created this amazing sculpture out of plastic water bottles, supported by wire mesh, and fitted with plywood and glass riot shields. The sculpture was meant to raise awareness about the global shortage of water, and it was entered into the Susatinable Living Festival, which took place at the Federation Square in Melbourne. It is a powerful piece with a powerful message.

Forevertron

Meet The Forevertron.  He is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest sculpture made out of scrap metal.  He is 50 feet tall, 120 feet wide, and 60 feet deep, and weighs 320 tons.  He lives at Dr. Evermor’s Sauk County, Wisconsin art park.  His creator is Tom Every, and Tom has been interested in the preservation of historic machinery  his entire life and he let his interest carry him to the creation of his sculpture.  He used two decade’s worth of salvaged scrap to create The Forevertron.  Every himself IS Dr. Evermor, and he and his wife Eleanor run the park, which is full of sculpture to look at, and some to buy.

Eyeglass Lens Chandelier

Stuart Haygarth, English designer, photographer, and artist, has been collecting objects since 2004.  He then designs projects, like this chandelier made out of 4500 eyeglass lenses, out of the objects he collects.  This particular piece creates a really cool light effect – the many layers of prescriptive lenses refract the light from within – a clear incandescent light bulb.

Driftwood Elephant

Andries Botha says, “In African mythology the elephant reincarnates carrying the soul of a murdered God.  It is thus the embodiment of the transmigration of souls.  It is also the metaphor for the world’s preoccupation with Africa as an exotic location.  The elephant thus embodies the world’s romanticism with Africa.  In part it is the Colonial pancacea:  wildness can be contained, civilised and taken back to the ballrooms of the First World as a trophy.”

Botha is a prolific artist, and this sculpture is part of his commission for the Beaufort Triennial in 2006.  He created, from driftwood, a heard of life-size elephants – 9 of them – on the beach in Beaufort, Belgium.  Botha is South African, and creates sculptures all over the world.

Plastic Polar Bear

This polar bear, created for the Eden Project in the U.K., is made out of plastic grocery bags.  Well, they might not ALL be grocery bags, but they are all plastic bags.  The terms aren’t mutually exclusive.  The Eden Project is home of the world’s largest greenhouse, and many pieces of upcycled artwork.

These are geodesic domes mimic a natural biome, and each contains a different collection of plant species from around the globe.  There is a Tropical Dome with banana trees and other such tropical plants, a Mediterranean Dome that has olive trees and grape vines and other things you’d find in that type of climate, and there are more.  One big mass of giant skylights. The entire system lives in a Kaolinite pit (China Clay Pit) that is near Cornwall in England.

The Eden Project opened fully in 2001, and as of 2009 you can view much of the entire project on Google Street View.  How cool is that?

Stay tuned for future editions of One Man’s Trash, where we find the coolest upcycled art and show it to you right here on Bizarre Bytes.  If you have suggestions for this series, please feel free to comment!

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