The Art of Recycling

(Posted on 14/02/12)

In a world where sympathetic and careful use of our resources is becoming ever more important – and recycling and green issues have been re-branded in recent years as sustainability – we are always looking for new ways to promote good examples of the reuse of resources. This kind of recycling has even extended to the world of art.

Many artists and craftspeople use recycled materials – from reclaimed steel, to old magazines and even the circle remnants from hole punches – in their work, to create new and exciting art.  Leo Fitzmaurice, a Wirral-based artist, has recently won Leeds Art Gallery’s £16,500 Northern Art Prize for his imaginative work ‘Horizon (Leeds)’. Fitzmaurice specialises in creating new works of art from old or existent material, including cigarette packets and camera phone images of everyday objects.

He created his work ‘Horizon (Leeds)’ by aligning the horizon lines of 13 existing landscapes to form one continuous horizon, resulting in a new landscape to explore.  The paintings were all already part of Leeds Art Gallery’s collection. His reasoning for this venture – and his other work – is convincing and rational: ‘I think we’ve already got enough stuff. Let’s review what we’ve got, rather than making anything new’. In its own way, it is also a great example of how to preserve a beautiful landscape.