Recycled Art: Tom Deininger

It’s tough enough to create an artwork with oils, watercolour or clay, the ultimate success or failure depending on knowledge, imagination, technique, content and design, plus a host of other factors that I haven’t mentioned. So how much more difficult is it when the art works are made from recycled materials, from items salvaged from rubbish, from what others have thrown away? And even more difficult than that, to do it in such a way that the final result makes you stop and look because of the impact.

In the weeks to come I will post examples – collages, sculptures, statues – of art works made from recycled materials. I have no doubt that you will be as awed as I when you see them.

First up: The art of Tom Deininger.

Tom is a 43 year old American who is both a painter of fine art and an artist who uses found and recycled materials, from electronics parts to cigarette butts, to create a variety of works of varying styles and subject matter:

(To get the full effect, move away from the computer screen and view the pics from a greater distance).

Self Portrait

Cigarette butts found in beach parking lots around Newport (RI), attached to a foam insulation background.

Detail

Bottle cap mandala

"A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament."

- Oscar Wilde

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