Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Rust art in Situ.

GREEN DOOR
Those of you that have followed my blog thus far will know that in previous posts I have championed the aesthetic qualities of rusty old cars. I'm not alone in this of course, and there are plenty of artists out there using similar subject matter to create art, what I want to do however is make 'Rustart' mainstream!

My vision for this idea has developed to a point that I can now illustrate exactly what I mean using a series of digital pictures of my 'paintings' here in situ.
When I paint those small images of rusty old cars on modest little canvases, they are done more or less on a whim as I enjoy painting the small, intimate scenes. I take great pleasure in fondly recreating the days of old, or the abandoned wrecks of today, yet such paintings are only really of interest to the old car buff, or automotive collector, which is a pretty specialised market that already has many artists that supply excellent work.

The new stuff that I am proposing is different, it is as attractive to the modern, minimalist home owner as it is to the dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast, it's larger, and it can add a splash of colour to a subtly shaded area to bring that space to life
Often on this blog I have mentioned that should an image of a rusty old car door be hung in a London or New York gallery it would (in my humble opinion) easily equal some of the paintings that they currently stock. As 'modern art' goes I'm not that keen, preferring naturalistic painting, but I do appreciate the juxtaposition of colours that can create a stunning visual impact.

These new paintings will not only depart from my usual subject matter, but will also move away from the smooth surface that I usually achieve, to a more rough, and crusted paint application more in keeping to the subjects texture. The owner of one of these new paintings will not only see the rust in all its colourful wonder, but actually see the ridges and ruts of the painted surface that echo the form of the image.

I notice today that many folks like to adorn their homes with great colourful splashes on canvas, this creates a focal point, and often (as below) sets the mood for the interior decor rather than matching it. My aim therefore is to offer a similar type of work with one exception... each and every one will be painted from a genuine part of an old jalopy!

The painting below is shown reproduced as a print, thus bringing 'rustart' to the masses! lol.

So there we are. Regular readers may be able to track my progress with these new paintings, although there are quite a few technical issues that I will have to confront and overcome during the production of them.
What do you guys think? Is there a future for bits of rusty wrecks as art? Would old cars become popular again? Am I totally crazy?... all opinions and comments welcome!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful decayed objects. If you need large format printing of these let me know...Gary

The Viewliner Limited said...

WOW! This is great. What a way to brighten up the room. With beautiful rustic art! Very, very nice.

RUDHI RĂ¼scher said...

Pioneer!? Great!

Unknown said...

Brilliant!
I found this site whilst trying to track down rust artists to reference for my current uni project...glad to see someone else appreciates it too =) I started painting rusty 'stuff' (cars, sheds, etc) and taking photos a few years ago...making them into paintings that could brighten up a loungeroom, really focusing on the amazing colours.
Hmmm, do you know of any key artists I could look into and reference for my project? =)

The Old Nail said...

Hi Jess. There are a few 'rust artists' around, although most seem to be photographers who manipulate their shots to create stunning images.

In paint, I don't think there's anyone doing what I'm doing with these (although I'm sure there will be once they start taking off lol). Take a look at the work of Dale Klee, or my personal favourite Jean Vincent for examples of their work http://jeanvincent.com/thegarage.htm

Sean said...

check out www.rustpainting.com for more rust art, ps lovely work

Sean said...

Yo Old Nail,

check out www.rustpainting.com for rust painters. Your work is lovely