Posts

Mobiles

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Last week I found a video on Alexander Calder in the library. What most intrigued me was the graceful way his gigantic mobiles danced in space - the static images in books give no hint of this beauty. Another aspect I found interesting was the fact that the connecting wires are not all straight, as one sees in most commercial versions of this art form, in contrast Calder’s wires curve aerodynamically. Yesterday I bought some suitable wire & got to work.....& it’s not that easy!! As a jeweller, small constructions appeal to me, so I tried my hand on a miniature scale using discs cut from plastic bottle tops, & then some plastic tiki from the souvenir shop.....I was quite pleased with the results, & am at present working on a larger version for submission to an art competition. A slight breath sets the pieces into action - spinning & bobbing. and under a directed light they cast the most fantastic shadows on the wall. I look forward to making videos of this poet

No Bull

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I found these bicycle parts in a dumpster recently. The wires are the brake cables - I am not sure whether to leave them on or cut them off? I kind of like them. A possible title for this piece is “No Bull” - references to Picasso’s original sculpture & Magritte’s “This is not a pipe” being intentional. Otherwise it could be a “Recyclabull”? See more of my recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Save the Planet - or is it too late?

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Another of my entries in the Mairangi Arts show was a board game with a “save the planet from yourself” theme. I tore images from magazines & glued them onto a piece of foam-core I found. The work sold - tho now I almost wish it hadn’t....I would have liked to look at it for a while longer! SOLD See more of my recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com See more culture jamming and adbusting at www.culture-jam.blogspot.com

Recycled Kiwiana

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I have been continuing to make jewellery - & my latest range is made from kitsch items of Kiwi (NZ) tourist culture. The tiki earrings here are made from plastic tiki from the tourist shops..I have painted them gold & given them red eyes. My artist friend Mere Keating in Wanganui (www.flaxweaving.co.nz) bought some jewellery from me when I visited in March to sell in her gallery at the Mungamahu Hotel. Recently some of Mere’s flax weaving featured in a fashion show at the Sargent Gallery in Wanganui, & she chose my tiki as accessories: thanks to Elle for modelling them. See more of my trashion as well as recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Recycled robot #2

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This robot has an old metal toaster for a body, which I found in a skip. His antennae is a toy helicopter. Attached to the back of his head is a toy telephone which works! - When you press the buttons it either beeps or a metallic voice says “Hello....Leave a message at the sound of the beep...Goodbye”. SOLD See more of my recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com ____________________________________________

Recycled jewellery

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These plastic fish are soy sauce bottles which I found locally in the trash. I have filled them with electric-green beads. See more of my trashion pieces as well as recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Bottle-top “throw”

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Last summer I spent a few days at Lake Taupo (an enormous volcanic crater-lake in the center of the North Island). Early one morning I went down to the lake’s shore to look for pumice for jewellery & sculptures. In the car park I found several bottle caps discarded by drinkers the night before, I gathered them up & threw them onto a rock by the lake’s edge & took this photo. To me the pic says a lot about the thoughtless disposal of rubbish.