Some of the most fun and exciting works of art I've seen recently have been made out of non-traditional materials.
Design Rulz features an interesting post about furniture made out of penny coins (for another example of coins in art, see here).
The piece which attracted my attention was a larger-than-life sculpture of Mr Selfridge made out of Jelly Belly beans (see picture). It seems that since the ITV series on the world-famous store, Mr Selfridge himself has become something of an icon - Selfridges have certainly seen their sales jump since the TV series.
So, I thought I'd set out on a search for more art made out of unusual materials! ost of the stuff I found was pretty naff(!) - smiling sandwiches and the like, but I found a few which I think you'll like:
Design Rulz features an interesting post about furniture made out of penny coins (for another example of coins in art, see here).
The piece which attracted my attention was a larger-than-life sculpture of Mr Selfridge made out of Jelly Belly beans (see picture). It seems that since the ITV series on the world-famous store, Mr Selfridge himself has become something of an icon - Selfridges have certainly seen their sales jump since the TV series.
So, I thought I'd set out on a search for more art made out of unusual materials! ost of the stuff I found was pretty naff(!) - smiling sandwiches and the like, but I found a few which I think you'll like:
I found this really sweet sleeping teddy bear on Pinterest - I think it would work nicely as a Cam FM Midnight Moment? Apparently this was someone's breakfast - how impressed would you be if someone presented you with this for your breakfast?!
Whereas the teddy under the blanket was a novelty breakfast, some artists use food as the chosen medium solely to make great art. Salmon Sea (above) is one of many incredible "Foodscapes" by Carl Warner. It's amazing how easy it is to forget you're looking at a bunch of food!
Going down a different path now... Here's a fantastic one for us animal (toy and recycling) lovers! The artist, Robert Bradford, collects up old toys (I can see some old toy cars (which I've got a massive bag of in the loft!), some tiddlywinks and a load of junk I don't even recognise, but look plastic-y enough to be instantly toy-like!) and turns them into contemporary sculptures. Apparently he's often commissioned by pet owners to create a likeness of their pet out of toys - I can see why!
The final piece I've decided to include in this post is "Self Imposed Misery" by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. I first stumbled across these artists about 5 years ago and every now and again I return to them because I absolutely love what they manage to create with light. It almost defies belief that these piles of junk can create such an accurate silhouette!
If you're from the UK, you may remember that John Lewis used a similar idea in some of their adverts a couple of years ago... They used their products to create a (slightly more elegant!) silhouette. JL have become well-known for their adverts recently - in particular their Christmas ads - so I think it goes to show that clever and creative art can be extremely effective as a brand building exercise, as well as (obviously) an enjoyable thing to make and view.
If you know of any other unusual artworks I'd love to hear from you!
If you're from the UK, you may remember that John Lewis used a similar idea in some of their adverts a couple of years ago... They used their products to create a (slightly more elegant!) silhouette. JL have become well-known for their adverts recently - in particular their Christmas ads - so I think it goes to show that clever and creative art can be extremely effective as a brand building exercise, as well as (obviously) an enjoyable thing to make and view.
If you know of any other unusual artworks I'd love to hear from you!