Artist Changes Recycled to New :: Discover the Fine Art of Upcycling

Previously featured by Low Impact Living in an article here about the fine art of upcycling, Schimmel Art is worth a another look:

The artist’s vision is to utilize the disciplines of painting and mosaic to create a connected collection of representational or abstract images in segments of brilliant color. The goal of the work is to utilize resources that would otherwise go to waste. It’s described as an organic communion of thought and inspiration. The faces portrayed are imagined to be images from advertising ephemera and motivated by the constant external stimuli of art and beauty, fashion and design.

The artist says:

“What’s in a face?” “What is beauty?” I was forced to explore this concept when my own face was radically changed. What is society’s version of beauty? Celebrities, models, images made for advertising – the eternal come-on… What’s in a face? It is only a visage we present for review. Can you see the “thinker behind the eyes” through an intricate facade… a false front?

I believe we are an aggregate of tiny bits: who we are and where we’ve been – or who we want or pretend to be. The tesserae, the “tiles” I create from junk mail represent those bits in color and texture and meaning. Yes, my work is very “busy.” In my head, Synesthesia*, Eidetic Imagery*, Perfect Pitch* and an unquenchable desire to delve into concepts, history, images and ideas – compete and collide. I take fascinating and colorful expeditions down rabbit holes. My art reflects the flashing of images on the screen of my brain… images in tiny bits, in a color scheme that may only exist in my mind. The how, the exact process, is not important – the finished creation is the end of the journey. Now, it is up to you to enjoy. ~Sandhi Schimmel Gold

Read more about upcycling and check out the video about the art here via fabgreen.com. A true recycler, Schimmel upcycles unusual resources to create art with menu items, junk mail postcards, business cards, old greeting cards, cruise itineraries, gallery openings. “stand back to view the sum of the parts – a textural representation of beauty.”