ARTIST SPEAK

When most people look at discarded objects, and see only trash, here are five artists who view junk as precious materials for their beautiful sculptures

Check out the works of five trash artists for whom trash is a goldmine of creativity

Blake McFarland

Blake McFarland is an expert when it comes to using recycled rubber tyres to create amazing life like animal sculptures. He uses tyres, which are woven and secured, thereby creating an amazing muscle like definition of the animals. Blake says, “Each recycled tyre sculpture takes around a month to get completed with detailed features.” As an artist and as a person, Blake loves to be eco-friendly, and uses only 100 per cent recycled tyres to make his distinctive tyre sculpture art. The tyre sculptures are by far the most detailed oriented and fondest piece of art that Blake has ever created. He says, “It takes over a month to create one sculpture due to the amount of detail put into each piece. I love the fact that tyre sculpture art is not only visually appealing, but also eco-friendly. They have a very natural and sophisticated feel to them that look great in any setting.”

Dario Tironi

Dario Tironi has a penchant for all things plastic. Beautiful, intricate statues designed and pieced together from discarded materials, and converted into value based statues is the artist’s forte. The explosion of colours and vibrant vitality distinguishes the artist’s sculptures. Not just that - the playful and ironic sense of his artistic research compels one to compare his works with that of Arcimboldo, the great Italian painter who was well-known for creating imaginative portrait heads made by using fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. Dario Tironi is not only known for his human figures, but he has also mastered the art of piecing together discarded pieces of trash, electronics, etc to create animal figurines. Through his works, the artist successfully conveys the message that even scrap can produce beauty.

Ha Schult

Ha Schult loves trash, and there is no second opinion about it. He often works with other people’s trash creating large scale sculptures out of them, which calls for attention and compels each one of us to think how beautifully trash can be used as a valuable piece of art. The artist says, “We are living in the time of garbage. I have successfully created a thousand sculptures of garbage, which are ironically a mirror of ourselves.” The artist’s trash sculptures are displayed across the globe. The beauty of his sculptures are that they are unforgettable, and somehow have an engraving impact on the viewers mind. In spite of being hugely popular, the artist in all simplicity, and with humility says, “Artists have to learn every time; that is their profession. We are not important. All that is important is the time in which we are living.”

Leo Sewell

Leo Sewell’s life has always revolved around the dump since childhood. It is often said that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It stands true in Leo’s case as his sculptures are composed of recognisable objects of plastic, metal and wood. Like any dedicated artist, Leo simply loves his work. He says, “As a boy, I grew up near a dump and became fascinated with whatever I could lay my hands on from the dump yard.” Leo is an expert at creating different dog breeds that look remarkably distinct and recognisable. He selects objects as per their colour, texture, durability and patina. To create a sculpture Leo drills small holes into each piece of junk and fashions them together using screws, nails or other objects. The artist says, “I hope my works will be like a time capsule, and will be remembered for years.”

Jenny Pinto

Jenny Pinto was not born to be an artist. She became an artist by accident. She says, “I love the look, touch and feel of beautiful paper. I enjoy exploring various natural fibres. The interplay of light and paper excites me the most.” She further adds, “The technique itself is very easy to learn, and anyone can recycle paper at home as a hobby.” As a raw material Jenny only uses natural fibres that are waste from agriculture and the rural cottage industry. Materials such as banana, mulberry, kora grass, jute, sisal - wonderful fibers that can make beautiful, strong paper. She uses a Hollander beater, lifting paper with traditional deckle and mould. She also uses subtle colours made from natural dyes. For Jenny, paper making is both engaging and being closer to nature. As an artist she finds it very satisfying. Lately, she has also diversified into making lamps, stationary and other paper products.