5 People Who Create Art In Fascinating Ways
It’s not a surprise that artists tend to think outside the box. In fact, you may be looking at that pile of empty pizza boxes sitting next to your trash can right now and thinking, “Man, I could totally sculpt something out of that.” And for like-minded individuals, the results can be pretty incredible, at least when they don’t result in horrible catastrophe.
Barista Creates Amazing Artwork On Top Of Lattes
Everyone loves a good cup of coffee. Well, except for people who don’t like coffee, I guess. Some of us are even willing to spoil ourselves with the fancy stuff, because we appreciate the high-quality ingredients, the care that goes into its preparation, and oh my god they drew a heart on top.
Lee Kang-bin, a barista in South Korea, was a superfan of the “artwork on your latte” concept, but at some point decided there simply wasn’t enough art involved. And that’s when he just up and threw down Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night on top of a cup of Joe. Of course, people went bonkers over it and started ordering the beverage like crazy, almost as if they were afraid his talent well would run dry at any moment.
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Leaving them with this garbage.
Since then, he’s expanded his work to include portraits, famous Disney characters, and even other famous paintings like The Scream and Mona Lisa. And to be fair, it’s pretty damn remarkable, which is why people pay about $9 and wait 15 minutes for his creations.
What’s truly amazing is that Kang-bin doesn’t have an art degree or anything -- he simply liked to draw, one day thought, “This coffee definitely needs an intricate painting on it,” and then just rockstarred the hell out of it.
Oh yeah, you should probably check out his Instagram, too, because holy crap.
Cassette Tape Art Will Blow Your Mind
I often wonder what inspires artists, and particularly those who use unique mediums. Is it like looking at cloud formations and thinking, “Hey, look; a goat!” And then the next time you spill a bag of Doritos on the floor you think, “Hah! That kind of looks like Abraham Lincoln. Wait ...”
Maybe that’s what happened with Erika Iris, better known as iri5, when her 1980s Walkman decided to eat her favorite Guns N’ Roses cassette and barf up the tape everywhere. Perhaps it landed in a pile that vaguely resembled a gun and a rose and then genius struck. I don’t know -- I’m just spitballing here.
Oh, as it turns out, there’s a real answer. One day, Iris saw some unrolled ribbon and thought it looked like Jimi Hendrix’s hair, so she decided to make a portrait. Man, I was way off on the whole Guns N’ Roses thing, and her visions are way better than anything my imagination could come up with.
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And Jimi looked down from Rock and Roll Heaven and was pleased.
Since then, her career has gone crazy, having been hired by the likes of Showtime and the Grammys. Her work was even featured in the Bruno Mars video for “Just The Way You Are.”
Just ... wow.
Artist Makes Portraits Using Sugar
Back in the ’90s, artist Vik Muniz was visiting the island of Saint Kitts in the Caribbean when he met the children of some of the local sugar plantation workers. After befriending them and being introduced to the kids’ parents, Muniz was taken aback by how the adults were “worn” and “tired” looking compared to the kids. Which, if being a parent has taught me anything, is that yeah, that’s about right.
But the stark contrast between the two generations went beyond what could be explained away with the normal exhaustion of juggling parental responsibilities. Muniz attributed it to their work in the plantation, stating that “it was the product -- the sugar itself. The sweetest part of them is pulled out of them so we can use it.”
So he snapped some photos, and after going back home decided that the best way to portray the lives of the people he met was to use the very thing he thought was prying the joy from the faces of the adults: Sugar.
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Actually, yeah, sort of. Only with more sugar, more skill, and more faces.
He said it’s kind of like fingerpainting, except with exactly zero paint and a terrifying fear of sneezing at any given moment. Which did actually happen -- his Sugar Children series was supposed to consist of seven separate pieces, but at one point he bumped the table while working and ruined pieces. And at that point he wasn’t about to start all over, because screw that.
Dryer Lint: It’s Not Just For Your Belly Button
Typically, dryer lint is good for only one thing: Throwing in the trash. It resides in a screen or a navel until you dig your finger in there and carry it to its temporary resting place before hitching a ride to Landfilltown. Landfillburg? Whatever. Good riddance, lint.
Heidi Hooper doesn’t share the same sentiment, though – when she sees dryer lint, she sees gold. Or at least art material, because she uses it to create some pretty impressive works. How does she do it? I’m glad you asked!
It looks like pretty intricate work, but that’s not even the question I had -- Where in the hell does she get that much lint? Is she ... does she have a basement filled with dryers that she’s constantly throwing single colored shirts in? Does she ask for donations? Did she open Dryer Link Market where fellow lint enthusiasts can buy, sell and trade the stuff?
Dibs. I call dibs on that idea, and I’m going to open it right next door to a Michaels.
Butterflies Are Beautiful ... Even When Slapped Together On A Canvas
Surely you’ve seen those monarch butterfly migration pictures or videos, where millions of the beautiful, flying insects travel thousands of miles to go hang out in trees in Mexico like total BFFs. It’s an amazing, gorgeous event to behold.
Now imagine if those monarchs weren’t hanging from trees, but rather they were laying all over each other on a canvas. And it’s not just monarchs, but a multitude of different species in a variety of sizes and colors. Also that the entire thing looks like a guy in a hat resting his chin in his hand. That’s what artist Vadim Zaritsky does.
Specifically, he uses the wings to make incredible works of art. Unlike the dryer lint, I know exactly where Zaritsky gets his materials: Dead butterflies. No, wait! Before you go assuming he’s out there mass-slaughtering the beautiful creatures, you should know he doesn’t kill any butterflies at all. He just finds dead ones, plus has other people donate them for his work.
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Whichever ones the frogs don’t get, anyway.
He also makes the point that “in just one Texas district, cave bats eat over 240 tons of insects every night. What damage could we, entomologists, possibly cause?” Which ... oh man, did he really just ask what kind of damage people could do to nature? I mean, he could be right -- I didn't run the numbers myself. But just hearing that question sort of sounds like your drunk uncle holding a stick of dynamite and asking what could possibly go wrong.
