Simply Creative: May 2013

Styrofoam Cups Art by Cheeming Boey

California-based artist Cheeming Boey uses a Sharpie Pen and styrofoam cups as his canvas to make these unique works of art.

"Sometimes I do pencil sketches. They're so much more forgiving, because I now have the option to erase."

"I drew this cup like 5 or 6 times. I dont sketch on the cups first, what u see in the final product is all done freehand, zero room for errors, with a sharpie."

a) Started with drawing the side profile of the tiger, but Iwasnt quite feeling it because it seemed too flat. So after about 1.5 hours of work, I decided to stop.

b) After looking online for more photos of tigers, I decided to go with a tiger lying on its side, swiping away at a lady warrior. Everything was going good until I drew the lady. I messed up on her mouth and face outline, and she looked terrible, and since I can't "undo " my mistakes, I started over again after about 2 hours of work. I took that long because drawing a tiger was new to me.

c) This one came closest to the final cup I did. A few problems though. Her hand was too manly. the tiger looked too small, and lady didnt "engage" the viewers enough. I kept going though, thinking that once I filled in all the details, it would probably look pretty good. But when I drew that lock of hair covering her face, (between tiger's paw and her nose), it took away the feminine feel of the warrior that I had hoped to retain. So 4 hours, gone.

d) Wow, my tiger kicks ass. Then I decided to try drawing the lady coming down at it holding a katana. problem is, I couldnt extend her arms out if I wanted to how the katana she's holding. So I kept her arms in. After that, I realized the katana wasn't going to fit in the cup too without ruining the composition. So I stopped after about 1.5 hours, not counting the 3 hours of research I did on japanese armor.

e) "Maybe if I started drawing the lady first, I would be less nervous about ruining the whole cup.." I thought. I drew her too close to the bottom of the cup, leaving no space for the tiger. And she didn't look too intelligent either, nor did I like the pose too much. So I stopped after 10 mins.

final.) Woohoo. After 4 days of drawing. 5 hours on sat, and 12 hours today. Trying really hard not to make mistakes, its done!

"Drawing on cups is a challenge. Unlike a flat canvas, you have to consider compositions from all around. Which is what I spend most of my time doing off the top of my head."

"I don't do initial drafts on the cup. I do that on paper, but even that is rare, most of the time it's a straight shot. Part of the fun is not messing up..and that can happen anytime. Sometimes, 95% into the work. "

"Some cups take a few hours, including what feels like a relatively simple one. Some takes months, because I draw something great, and I am afraid of messing it up with the next stroke. so I tend to wait and think for days, or weeks. "

"I am still constantly refining my strokes. It's hard when you get one shot, and you can't undo an error. But that's also part of why I enjoy it."

"I hope my works can inspire others to think outside the canvas. It's not always what you draw on, it's what you draw."

All images are © Copyright of Cheeming Boey

Check his website: http://iamboey.com/

Welded Sculptures by Brian Mock

Portland-based sculptor Brian Mock turning hundreds of discarded nuts, bolts, hinges, and forks into these beautifully welded sculptures.

"I am intrigued by the challenge of creating an entirely unique piece from an eclectic collection of discarded objects. Giving these old, common items a new and extraordinary life as one sculpture is an artistically challenging yet gratifying process. This type of work is also designed to be highly interactive and prompt viewers to question the reality of what they see. Audience reactions fuel my motivation."

Check his website: www.brianmock.com and http://www.etsy.com/shop/BrianMockArt

Tobacco Leaves Sculptures by Janio Núñez

Cuban artist Janio Núñez creates works of art from tobacco leaves.

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Janio started working with Tobacco when he was small after looking at his grandfather roll cigars at the factory. He ended up becoming a "torcedor" or cigar-roller himself in the factory.

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One day he started seeing his co-workers as they are made up of Tobacco leaves. He used to get very scared and close his eyes, after sometime everything was fine and normal. This happened for about four months.

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"I saw my friends in tobacco, dressed in tobacco leaves. I dreamed of tobacco. I had to go to a psychologist," Nunez says.

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"So as a remedy, one night, I started rolling shapes, objects out of raw tobacco. My first real piece was the Indian head on the Cohiba label."

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Nunez then spent three weeks struggling to get a meeting with the director of Habanos SA, the state-run cigar monopoly, in order to present his work.

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"Tell me what it's worth," he recalls telling the director. "If you say it is worthless, I will destroy it immediately." The works were a hit. The director invited him to present them at the Havana Trade Fair at 1998 and at the first Havana Festival the following year.

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From then on, he began his "Celebrity Smokers" series, sculpting the miniature likeness of Che Guevara, Charlie Chaplin, Luciano Pavarotti, Fidel Castro, Winston Churchill, Jack Nicholson, Groucho Marx and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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It takes between 20 to 70 days to create these figures depending on the size.

He puts these pieces together in his studio in the coastal cita of Guanabo, half an hour away from La Havana.

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In 2000 he captured the attention of international media when he built his first life-sized sculpture of British politician Winston Churchill who was known to have an inkling for Cuban cigars after his trip to Cuba in the late 1800s.

A few years later he discovered God and briefly abandoned sculpting.

"I wanted to become famous, but when celebrity came to me I was not ready," he says. He studied to become an evangelical pastor and graduated in 2006.

In 2008 he went back to sculpting, and last year he set up a workshop a half-hour outside of Havana, near the sea, where he raises his own crop.

These days he molds mainly smaller pieces for tourists, but has also been inspired by his newfound faith. His next project will be a fresco entitled "Foundations of Humanity," he says. "God will reveal it to me."

Source: yahoo and huffington post

Plastic Cutlery Sculptures by Sayaka Ganz

Driven by a combination of passion for fitting odd shapes together and a sympathy toward discarded objects, Japanese sculptor Sayaka Kajita Ganz creates animals from plastic junk.

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"I am always collecting and reclaiming objects, from thrift stores and donations and dumpsters. I have them sorted by color into about 20 large plastic storage bins. When I have enough of one color I can make a plan for a project."

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"I focus on a specific animal or select a few candidates that may have a type of motion I want to depict. I do some internet research, look for photo reference books and come up with as many images of those animals as I can find. Then I select an animal and a pose or motion that is most appropriate and sketch out the plans for armature. I don't sketch a lot, just to figure out the sizes and general form. Then I make the armature according to this plan, paint it the right color and the rest is very spontaneous."

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"I drill holes into plastic objects and tie them onto the armature using electrical wire of similar color taken from old toys and appliances. I keep adding objects, stepping back, switching them out and adding some more until the sculpture looks fully formed."

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"I spent my early childhood in Japan but I grew up in several different countries. Japanese Shinto beliefs are such that all objects and organisms have spirits, and I was taught in kindergarten that objects that are discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin. This became a vivid image in my mind. The constant need to adjust to a new environment also gave me a strong desire to fit in and to create harmony around me."

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"I only select objects that have been used and discarded. My goal is for each object to transcend its origin by being integrated into an animal/ organic forms that are alive and in motion. This process of reclamation and regeneration is liberating to me as an artist."

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"I try to understand the human relationships by building these sculptures."

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"The objects that we use around the house are often designed to fit our hands or body and have beautiful curvilinear forms. I love putting odd shapes and forms together like a puzzle, so these objects work very well. I also like all the colors they come in, and that there are subtle variations in colors within each spectrum."

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"I like to think of these objects as having very human qualities, each having different shapes, each having different history. Some are bent, burned, stained or cracked."

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"Each also possesses a primary visual direction, long and linear pieces becoming almost like an arrow and more spherical or circular pieces more static, wanting to remain where they are. When I put these into a sculpture it almost feels like trying to persuade a group of people to do something together."

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"Some are very stiff and stubborn, some are flexible and pliable, some areas will have very close connections between objects and other will have huge gaps. But with all the small gaps and cracks and stains the piece still looks beautiful when you step back and look at it, as long as the overall orientation of the linear objects create a single visual flow. If we can share a vision, even if the details don't become completely seamless we can do something beautiful together."

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"Building these sculptures helps me understand the situations that surround me. It reminds me that even if there is a conflict right now, there is also a solution in which all the pieces can coexist peacefully. Though there are wide gaps in some areas and small holes in others, when seen from the distance there is great beauty and harmony in our community. Through my sculptures I transmit a message of hope."

"My favourite is "Emergence", two large horses emerging from the wall. I have always loved horses and I think that this one captures the motion very well, so that you can almost feel the wind trailing behind them."

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“When you look at the piece from the distance you see the form of the horse galloping, but when you get up close you start to see that individual objects were used.”