4 INSPIRING ARTWORKS CREATED FROM HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS

Ideal for those looking for ideas on adding some unique flourishes to their interior design.

If you’re the sort of artist or home decorator who likes to seek inspiration from nature, you might be feeling a little cooped up and starved of ideas right now.. 

But art is about innovation, and staying home doesn’t have to mean stifling your creative tendencies when you’re seeking new stuff to adorn the walls of your gaff. 

Indeed, lockdown has actually inspired some pretty bright and inventive ideas, such as the Getty Museum Challenge. The project invites individuals to recreate famous artworks from their own homes using everyday objects, and social media users around the world have risen to the challenge, reimagining works by Edvard Munch, Johannes Vermeer, Dali, Picasso and Van Gogh, amongst others. The responses were derived from little more than simplicity and imagination, and have produced impressive, often hilarious results.

If you’re looking to start your own lockdown art project that doesn’t require painstakingly acquired arts and crafts supplies, then first, some inspiration; here are 4 inspiring artworks created from household objects, IDEAL for those looking for ideas on adding some unique flourishes to their interior design.

UMBRELLA PROJECT AT HEATHROW AIRPORT

This ambitious project was created in 2019 and displayed in Heathrow Airport from June to October of that year. 

The concept was developed by the ADHD foundation to raise awareness of conditions and diagnoses included under the umbrella terms of autism and ADHD. The display featured 300 umbrellas suspended from the ceiling of Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5, and was put together by Meads Construction with the help of Ormiston Wire. In a time of protest and questioning authority, we predict that the umbrella installation may take on new significance in the coming years.

At home, pay homage to the piece by simply attaching an opened umbrella to your ceiling. Just mind that bad luck!

BLUFFS BY TARA DONOVAN

Artist Tara Donovan is known for her inventive use of household items and disposable goods such as toothpicks, paper plates, Styrofoam cups and straws to create sculptures that are visually surreal and texturally rich. 

‘Bluffs’ follows in that same tradition. The 2006 piece uses buttons and glue to create rising stalagmites that at a distance are almost indistinguishable from the sort of formation you may expect to find in any natural setting. In the contemporary context, Bluffs can be interpreted as a comment on the disposable, wasteful culture which permeates modern day life.

At home, by recycling conscientiously, or upcycling old items to have new uses, you can channel the energy of the piece.

STOP THINK MAKE BY DOMENIC BAHMANN

In 2013, artist Domenic Bahmann challenged himself to create one new piece per week. He christened the productive project ‘Stop Think Make’ and said it inspired him “to see the world in the way I used to when I was a child.”

Choice highlights from his playful, prolific endeavours include the Avocadosaurus (a dinosaur built from avocado shells), ‘Takeaway’, a recreation of the famous McDonald’s golden arches using banana peels, and ‘Board Meeting’, which sees a collection of onions and potatoes studiously gathered around a chopping board.

At home, root around in your compost bin for inspiration.

GIRL WITH LUTE BY CHRISTIAN FAUR 

Wax crayons are Christian Faur’s signature medium, but his use of them is unlike anything you’ve likely seen before. 

Each of his pieces uses hundreds and thousands of individual crayons to create pixel-esque images. His individual works incorporate a number of visual styles, including works such as ‘Girl with Cigarette’, ‘Pinterest Pygmalion’ and ‘Target’, which draw upon more recognisably modern imagery. 

But ‘Girl with Lute’ takes its influence from a Baroque painting by Italian artist Oraxio Gentileschi, presenting its subject in Faur’s own unique and charming style. A whole collage of influences, this, resulting in something wholly individual.

At home, simply take a selfie or photo of a family member, and pixelate it. Mind it doesn’t turn out looking like CCTV footage from Crimewatch!

If you’re looking for further inspiration, on positioning, placement, piece choice and more, then check out our 8 tips on choosing the IDEAL artwork for your living room, and keep on clicking on.

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