The idea that art can only be created using brushes, paints and canvases is as ridiculous as a world without the Internet. We’re not quite sure about how we feel about a wall-mounted urinal being considered art, but there are plenty of artists making ridiculously awesome works using materials that any normal person wouldn’t consider artistic. Not content to color inside the lines of conventional art, they created some of our favorite pieces of off the wall art.
Andrew Myers Screw Portraits
The relationship between art and screws usually revolves around using everyone’s favorite fastener (why use a hammer when you can use a power drill?) as a support mechanism. Andrew Myers flips that idea on its head by using thousands of individually painted screws inserted at different depths to create unique 3D images.
Tobias Wong Giant Dice Portrait
When a friend kicks the bucket, the remembrance is usually stories and exploits shared over copious amounts of alcohol. To honor his friend Tobias Wong, Frederick McSwain created a portrait using 13,138 dice (the amount of days Tobias lived) that’s touching and incredibly awesome.
Mark Khaisman Tapeworks
When it comes to being creative with tape, our experience is limited to fixing things around the house and using it to mail beer, but Mark Khaisman has different plans for the packing material. Using different sized strips of tape adhered to light boxes he creates illuminating works about a variety of subject matters that you’ll definitely get stuck on.
Rob O’Brien Staple Art
Red Swingline staplers aside, it’s hard to classify office supplies as art. If you attempted to recreate one of Rob O’Brien’s pieces, you would need to steal (be honest, we’ve all done it) hundreds of thousands of staples. We’re not quite sure about the math, but that’s probably a felonious offense and more legwork than we’re prepared to do. We’re content to admire his artistic staples from afar.
Giant Toast Toaster
Carbohydrates get a bad rap these days. Let’s face it, bread is delicious. Even though these 2,500 pieces of toast might not be sandwiching cheese or bear the face of a religious figure, a 5 meter by 4.5 toaster made out of toast is about as delicious as it gets when it comes to food art.
Nick Gentry Floppy Disk Portraits
Interacting with a floppy disk probably isn’t a problem you’ve had in a very long time. Nick Gentry finally found something useful to do everyone’s least favorite piece of antiquated technology – he turned them into portraits of hotties.
Zac Freeman’s Junk Portraits
Junk drawers are the 401k of your home. In all but the most desperate circumstances, you never really plan on making a withdrawal. Zac Freeman takes all that “junk” and MacGuyvers it into artistic portraits that will make you reconsider what you consider to be garbage.
Scott Blake Barcode Portraits
Universal Product Codes revolutionized shopping long before Amazon ever existed, but they’re nothing more than an afterthought to everyone but Scott Blake. Blake takes a mind-numbing amount of barcodes and turns them into portraits of everyone from the former Governator to Oprah to Charles Manson.
Cliff Maynard Used Joint Filter Portraits
If you’re Cliff Maynard, getting to the point where a joint turns into a roach doesn’t mean the party is over, it means the art is just beginning. Using an almost disgusting, definitely impressive amount of used joint filters, Maynard creates gallery worthy pieces that will make you rethinkg puff, puff, pass.
Matt Cusick Map Collages
Ever since GPS and Google Maps became ubiquitous no one needs maps. Rather than letting them hit the recycle bin, Matt Cusick turns them into landscapes, portraits and car porn. You don’t need directions to figure out why you want one of these hanging on your wall..
Recycled Hubcap Sculptures
Harold Camping might consistently be wrong when it comes to predicting the end of days, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t looming on the horizon. We are, of course, talking about the inevitable rise of Skynet and a robot army bent on human enslavement. Ptolemy Elrington’s hubcap sculptures might not be capable of such a feat (yet), but they certainly look the part.
If you have any favorites that aren’t in the list, make sure to let us know by leaving a comment below.
