Nick Gentry Puts Obsolete Technology, Floppies, To Good - And Artistic - Use.

above: Next Generation by Nick Gentry (detail), floppy disks, acrylic paint, mixed media mounted on wood.

Nick Gentry is a British artist from London whose majority of his artistic output has been generated with the use of contributed artifacts and materials.


above: Contemporary artist Nicholas James Gentry (image courtesy of Miami New Times)

He states that through this process "contributor, artist and viewer come closer together." His art is influenced by the development of consumerism, technology and cyber culture in society, with a distinctive focus on obsolete media.



above: Constructed MemoryScape (full and detail), 2011, Mixed paint and used computer disks on wood, 84cm x 90cm

Best known for his floppy disk paintings, which combine the now obsolete tech storage with acrylic paints, metallic leaf and mixed media mounted on wood, Nick places an emphasis on recycling and the reuse of personal objects as a central theme.

Life Story:

below: Life Story (detail)

Index:

Elements of Existence:

Profile Number2:

Switchblade:

Profile #1:

Alterra:

Archived:

Voyager:

Next Generation:


The following 2011 works by Nick Gentry are available at the Robert Fontaine Gallery:











Nick's recent solo show at the Robert Fontaine Gallery in Miami (which ran from August 25th through September 2, 2011) included the first pieces of the Invicta Watches Artist Series which featured Nick's "The Secret Key":


Nicholas James Gentry is a graduate of Central St. Martins in London. Notable exhibition venues include Art Paris, Verge Art Fair (Miami) and appearances at Bonham's and Dreweatt's Urban Art Auctions in London. International press for Gentry has included the Mirror, the Huffington Post, La Repubblica, Juxtapoz Magazine, Wired Magazine and the Wooster Collective. Gentry's work was a part of the inaugural Artist Series from the Invicta Watch Group, presented by Ocean Drive Magazine in Miami. Gentry lives and works in London.

Nick has tons more of his work available to view on his Flickr photostream.

images and info from Nick Gentry's site, flickr account and Robert Fontaine Gallery

Nonpareil Pet Portrait. One Sweet Beagle Made of 221,184 Colored Sprinkles.

What began as a university fine arts project on Pointillism and Georges Seurat by student Joel Brochu, evolved into a remarkable artistic idea.



What looks like an image of a beagle getting a bath (above) is actually a 4’ by 1 ½’ high definition photograph covered in 221,184 nonpareil sprinkles, each placed painstakingly by hand.



At a distance of 16 feet, the sprinkles blur, tricking the human eye into believing that it is looking at a large photograph. Only when you closely examine the work do you realize that it has been created entirely with tiny spheres of rainbow nonpareils.







Meticulously placed by hand using jewelry tweezers, the sprinkles adhere to the board with the help of double sided tape and a thin layer of glue.




Using only 6 colors of sprinkles (Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Black, and White), a myriad of hues was created.




Joel used a customized computer program, in which a template was created from the original image which guided the placement of each sprinkle. Taking just under 8 months to complete, once finished, it was permanently preserved with a clear acrylic resin.

Sweet, huh?

A big shoutout to Betsy Wills and her wonderful blog, Artstormer, for bringing this unique piece to my attention. Most images courtesy of Joel Brochu

Eye Popping Pill Portraits of Celebrities Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger & More.

Get a load of Jason Mecier's portraits of celebrities Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Courtney Love and Kelly Osbourne made with actual pills. While it's true that some of these subject's undoing was the medium itself, others, like Kelly Osbourne have successfully kicked the habit. Either way, these are interesting homages to them.






Be sure to check out the Red Vine, Candy and Junk mosaic portraits by this same artist, Jason Mecier and the self portrait comprised of Ecstacy tablets by bar code artist Scott Blake.