Yesterday I
finally finished my hubcap for the
landfill art project. A few months ago, I applied to be part of this project:
*Landfillart is an international effort encompassing
one-thousand-forty-one (1,041) artists to claim a piece of rusted metal garbage
and create fine art.
The 1,041 pieces of rusted metal are actually old automobile hub
caps from the 1930’s through the 1970’s. Each hub cap, after being cleaned and
primed, is affectionately called a “metal canvas.” Although most “metal
canvases” have been transformed by the artist using oil or acrylic paint, some
have been weaved on, glued or screwed or welded to, or made into fine
sculpture.
I have found that the fine artists I have worked with on this
project do not even flinch when looking at this white round disc of metal
canvas. And why should they. Artists from the beginning of time have used cave
walls (Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain,) walls of pyramids (Egyptians,)
animal skins (American Indians,) etc… as their canvas. In addition, as a
gallery owner for over thirty years, I maintain that artists, generally
speaking, are more ecologically in touch and environmentally aware. Perhaps
that is the reason forty-one artists readily accepted the challenge and embraced
the project.
Although the project is in its infancy (I hope to have it
completed by 2012,) it will evolve from a simple idea of taking forty-one old
rusted hub caps and creating forty-one pieces of great art. The second phase
has already started with the acquisition of one thousand additional (1000)
rusted hub caps which will be turned into cleaned and primed “metal canvases.
The project will continue with finding one thousand (1000) talented artists who
believe in this project.
The third phase will involve
publishing a book on the project showcasing all one thousand forty one (1,041)
completed “metal canvases.”
The fourth and
final phase will involve choosing 200 metal canvases that adequately represent
the project and create a traveling show. The book and
traveling show will publicly portray the global art community's effort to
positively impact the environment through re purposing previous metal waste into
great landfillart.
I wanted to do a koi fish to represent me and my art studio: KoiStudios. When I received the hubcap, I cleaned it well with soap and water. Then I applied a couple coats of white gesso. Painting on metal was new to me, so I was taking my sweet time with it. Once the hubcap was completely dry, I sketched the fish out in pencil and then started to paint with watercolors and eventually moving on to acrylic.
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how I received it in the mail
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| gessoed |
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| big guy © samos 2012 |
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| close up © samos |
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detailed close up © samos
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