R is for Repair

Platform21’s Repair Manifesto opposes throwaway culture and celebrates repair as the new recycling. The Repair Manifesto is part of the project Platform21 = Repairing for which they sought to make repairing cool again. So rediscover the joy of fixing things and share your repair knowledge.

More info here.

Treasures in the Mundane

Maurizio Pellegrin's installations combine fragments of dissimilar found objects such as old photographs, sporting equipment, tools, and drawings mixed with objects made from stuffed canvas, many of which are unified with a striping pattern, stenciled with numbers, and arranged into compositions on the gallery walls.

See more of Maurizio's work here.

The Beauty of Common Tools

Walker Evans wrote in the 1955 portfolio, Beauties of the Common Tool: "Among low-priced, factory-produced goods, none is so appealing to the senses as the ordinary hand tool. Hence, a hardware store is a kind of offbeat museum show for the man who responds to good, clear “undesigned” forms".  Evans photographed these tools outside of their everyday contexts, transforming them into art objects.

More photos here.

American Dream

Cheryl Molnar creates futuristic landscapes from thin strips of color paper.

Collage, in both its two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms allows her to construct layered landscapes that visually explore pattern, structure and time, as well as nostalgia and other sensibilities created by urban and suburban migration.
See more of Cheryl's work here.

The Bastard Chairs of China

"They are not elegant, nor are they always comfortable. But neither are they mass-produced: they are individuals." Michael Wolf’s photographs document the beauty of the ugly, the stretching of time, the art of improvisation, and the nature of the stool as a portrait of its user. Each chair and stool has its own character, is a companion, a bastard, or a venerable elder.

View more of Michael's work here.

Found via accidental mysteries.

The Art of the Mug Shot

Years ago Chris Crites saw a book of black and white crime photographs from the past and found it amazing. The characters and crime scenes looked like surreal glimpses into the history of human interaction. Much more intriguing for him were the mug shots. He tries to bring new life to these practically discarded portraits of criminal and human history. Using an everyday, disposable item as the surface gives new life to the bag as well. It is his hope to get people thinking about the past, their present, and how we all affect both.
View more of Chris's work here.

Found Object Robots

Fobots (Found Object Robots) are the work of Raleigh, North Carolina artist Amy Flynn. Amy started making robots to fill the time between illustration jobs. Now, it's her passion, as it combines two of her favorite pastimes; making things and shopping. She scours flea markets, basements, internet auctions, and scrapyards for cool old junk. Amy then solders and bolts the pieces together to create sturdy, one-of-a-kind sculptures, never to be duplicated.

For more info visit Amy's site here.