THE POWER OF MULTIPLES

Iron Fish by Roger Lee


There is beauty and power in multiple motifs and grouped objects.

Field Form Box Construction by Lorna Fraser. Ceramic.


Whether they are grouped as a collection on display or whether they form an artwork, they create a visual rythm .....a beat ....an energy.

Vintage Industrial Tarn Spools from Lost Found Art. See here for more amazing collections of vintage objects.

Stoneware discs, detail from Dichotomy of Dirt by Margaret Boozer


Large artwork on the wall by Margaret Boozer


I found Margaret Boozer's work at a wondrous blog I discovered only yesterday. If you don't know Another Shade of Grey you need to make yourself a cuppa and browse. There's lots to see.

Stone Stack by Lissa Hunter.


Lissa Hunter creates many of her amazing pieces by grouping multiple objects in niches within her artworks. Sometimes she incorporates rows of pebbles ....or miniature handwoven baskets ...

....or basketware made from waxed linen thread to look like eggs or pebbles.

Flight by Lissa Hunter. Waxed linen thread, paper cord, paper, paint, lime.

Land Art by Streuwerk. See more of his work at Flickr, here.

Eclipse by Crowhand on Flickr.

COMPLETE

It's not often that I finish a piece and feel completely comfortable with it. Most times it takes a week or two to tweak and adjust before I'm satisfied. Maybe tomorrow I will feel differently but today I feel complete.

Wooden "door". 70cm x 66cm

ART FROM THE BANAL OR DISCARDED

Aluminium Cloth (detail) by El Anatsui. October Gallery UK


Artworks made from discarded objects hold great fascination for me especially if the pieces are as amazing as these pieces by Ghanain artist, El Anatsui. He 'sews' together flattened aluminium bottle caps to create huge cloths sometimes big enough to cover a wall or the fronts of buildings. (see here)





Many Moons by El Anatsui. Flattened Bottle caps and copper wire.



One of my favourite pieces is Crumbling Wall made from sheets of perforated rusty metal. These metal sheets were actually old graters used to prepare gari, a West African dish made from cassava. The grater is made by punching holes in a piece of flattened metal with nails which leaves a raised jagged surface over which the cassava is rubbed.



Crumbling Wall by El Anatsui. Perforated rusty metal sheets


See more of El Anatsui's remarkable works here.
"Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up." - El Anatsui

Filthy Rivers, intersecting on a Dying Field by Joseph EZE (photos from Jess Castellote's blog)

These assemblages by Joseph Eze are made from found flip flops. Flip Flops! I admire anyone who can create art from something that is washed up on a beach or accumulating at some rubbish dump. Read more about his work on Jess Castellote's blog on contemporary art in Nigeria, here.

A dark footpath through a garden by Joseph EZE



Snow Flake Wreath by Tamiko Kawata. Safety Pins.



Art made from objects that are banal, plentiful and cheap also intrigue me. Tamiko Kawata uses the lowly safety pin and rubber band in many of her artworks.

Autumn Letter by Tamiko Kawata

Beige on Black by Tamiko Kawata. Rubber Bands.

Red Eye Bull by Richard Swenson


Richard Swenson, a retired physicist opted to restore old John Deere tractors upon retirement and while searching for parts for his tractor restoration he discovered scrap metal on farm junk piles that he could perhaps turn into something. Something became sculptures that are now exhibited in museums. Read his story here.


"When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you're really bringing them to life - a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created." - Louise Nevelson