Recycled Art: 66 Masterpieces Made From Junk

Artists can use just about any material to create a masterpiece – and from any I mean even junk. Such is called recycled art and is created using common things that you usually throw in the junk which makes recycled art not just beautiful but eco-friendly as well.

So, here is a showcase of jaw-dropping pieces of art created from junk material. These materials include old computer chips, cassette tape, fabric, and scrap metal. Let’s jump right to the list.

Jeu Dechecs

BRC Designs

‘BRC’ stands for Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, founder of the BRC Designs who reforms timeless and unconventional materials into simple yet unique furniture which design surpasses most expensive furniture.

Binary Low Table

Korobeiniki Chair

Protrusion Low Table

Andrew Chase

Andrew Chase by the Chase studio is a photographer and one of the few artists who has the talent to form an epic dinosaur with mere metals. His metal sculptures also include elephant, cheetah, bear, etc.

Dinosaur

Elephant

Cheetah

Derek Gores

Derek has achieved national attention for his collage portrait series, recycling magazines, labels and found materials to create works on canvas. Those series has showed his interest in the natural beauty of figure and the fearless attitude of play.

Collage 07

Collage 09

Collage 17

Erika Iris Simmons

A.k.a Iri5, Erika Iris Simmons specializes in using non traditional media like cassettes to create absolutely unique and memorable works that feature famous people or team like Kurt Cobain, Beatles and Michael Jackson.

Ghost In The Machine – Michael Jackson

Ghost In The Machine – The Beatles

Ghost In The Machine – Kurt Cobain

Guerra De La Paz

Guerra de la Paz is the composite name that represents the creative team efforts of Cuban artists, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz, who have been collaborated since 1996. Gaining access to an overabundance of discarded clothing, they used clothes as their main unconventional materials to produce a series of beautiful and inspiring recycled art which are shown below.

Ring Around The Rosy

Bonsai

Spring

Fall

Winter

Heather Jansch

Her name is Heather Jansch, and her passion lies within drawing and horses. Heather Jansch was told to leave college’s course with the reason that she did not have the talent of being a painter. But then, she decided to pursue what she loves and finally came out with driftwood horses below which looks like they are living things with feeling!

Apollo

Nightmare And Daydream III

Jane Perkins

"I started making richly decorated brooches in my final year, using broken jewellery, plastic toys and other small found objects. Inspiration came from festival headdresses from Ecuador discovered while researching my thesis on art from recycled materials. The headdresses, covered with all kinds of shiny and odd things, are bizarre and quirky, yet beautiful – I love them!"

Obama

The Queen

Mandela

Kyle Bean

Based in Brighton, Kyle Bean specializes in hand crafted models, set design and art direction. Since his graduation in 2009, he has worked across a variety of platforms which include installations, window displays, editorial and advertising.

His works, such as What Came First showcased below has really showed his unusual creativity.

What Came First

Miguel Rivera

Ever imagined that your boring hard drive can be very cool too? Rivera has done it by combining hard drives and spare parts to form sensational bike, car and even robot. He wishes to show to others of what are hard drives look like in creative way, and he has done it very well.

Hark Disk Drive Robot

Hark Disk Drive Bike

Hard Disk Drive Car

Leo Seowell

Leo has developed his own art style over the last 50 years. His notable works are mostly composed by charming plastic objects, metals and woods and were collected by corporations, museums and individuals all over the world.

Dog

Teddy Bear

Jesus Christ

Lin Evola-Smidt

Best known for her sculpture Renaissance Peace Angel which is showcased below, Lin Evola-Smidt creates her works with a single purpose, to promote world peace. Creation process of her works involves melting down weapons and reform them into art that shows gracefulness and peacefulness.

Renaissance Peace Angel

Nick Gentry

I was never a big fan of floppy disk but Nick Gentry has changed my mind with his sensational floppy disk paintings. The most epic part of his painting is perhaps the shiny circular part of the disk which mostly represents the eyes of the painted character.

Body language

A digital composition

Binary bound

Recycle Art

Recycle Art is the master of turning car/ motorcycle parts, screws and toothed wheels into extremely unique sculptures with terrifying quality. Their works are beyond epic, and can be used as either advertisement for your garage or absolute eye catcher in the club.

Sea Dragon

Turtle

Big Ant

Angel

Metal Rhino

Indian On Horse

Robert Bradford

"For a long time now I have preferred to use materials that are not bland i.e. have some kind of history of weathering or use. One day about four years ago out in the studio I was looking into my children’s box of outgrown / discarded toys which happened to be stored in the same building and responded to the random collection of colours shapes and forms they made. I figured that if I could find a way of putting them together to constitute a larger form they would have great potential as larger scale sculpture."

The Dog

The Rabbit

RoboSteel

With steel as main material, Robosteel designs and creates handmade steel sculptures which includes movie character, earth’s life form, vehicle and custom commissioned work. Despite steel, they also used small amounts of copper and ceramic material to create certain desired effect for their works.

And yes, all their materials used in the work are recycled from cars, motorbikes and airplanes.

Recycled Optimus Prime

Recycled Bumblebee

Recycled Wall-E

Sara Bergando

Scraps of felt + Old mobile phone’s battery charger + Circuit of 50 LED low-power = Ribbon of light with luxurious feel! Credit to the creative creator Sara Bergando.

Ribbon Of Light

Ribbon Of Light 2

Sandrine Estrade Boulet

Artist Sandrine Estrade Boulet wants to tell you that you can live a funny and happy day with simple things in our world, and that’s how the White Vador was born.

White Vador

Steven Rodrig

If you have love for circuit board, you should remember Steven Rodrig. He’s an innovative artist who restructures discarded circuit boards and electronic parts to form extraordinary arts which are organic and mechanical at the same time. Without a doubt, he’s a professional geek.

Data Transfer

Data Spider’s Kingdom

Sea Turtle Searches Deep Data

Terrence Willment

Terrence Willment works with manufacturers in Thailand to create impressive recycled work using abandoned car parts and sells them in event like showroom.

Alien

Tom Deininger

Tom Deininger is the master of collage art. His collage works are not only beautiful, but makes you really think that how your discarded little items can form sensational art like his works.

Marilyn

Self Portrait

Yong Ho Ji

Yong Ho Ji is a Korean artist who utilizes used tires into recycled masterpieces. His productions are mostly in the form of animal which some of them are shown below, but he also creates cool mutants which are either combined by 2 animals or an animal and a human.

Lion

Ram

Rhino

Wild Boar

Yuken Teruya

You probably need to change your view about toilet paper roll, as Yuken Teruya, an artist born in Okinawa, Japan has transformed them into art with immense beauty. The artist is currently working from his studio in New York City.

Corner Forest

Rain Forest

Zac Freeman

Similar to Tom Deininger, Zac Freeman is also a professional artist who excels in collage art. His works are greatly recognized, which brought him over 20 exhibitions in just 5 years.

Travis

David

Kathy

More Awesome Works:

Soda Can Dragon

This incredible dragon is produced completely by aluminum cans, and is located in the Paris Zoological Park at the Jardin de Plantes.

Image Source: austinevan

Solex

Handmade micro bicycle, how cute!

Image Source: Gerda Suzanna Vegt

Summary

Recycled art is not only something entertains you or artist makes for living, it also presents to you a great lesson: do not underestimate the power of even trash. I think this is the true beauty of the recycled art, showing us that with belief and passion, even abandoned item can become one of the most beautiful art in the world.

Did you make a recycled art before? Please kindly share with us if you have one, and don’t forget to let us know which recycled art shocked you most!