The Gooey Chewing-Gum Sculptures of Maurizio Savini

Italian artist Maurizio Savini has spent the last ten years creating amazing sculptures out of thousands of pieces of bright pink chewing gum.

Chewing gum may not be the most common media of the art world, but to 39-year-old Maurizio Savini it’s the most versatile material available. It’s easy to manipulate when warm, and can be cut with a knife, just like clay. Regardless of what many may think, chewing gum sculpting is an established art form, recognized all over the world, and Savini’s artworks are eagerly awaited by critics and connoisseurs, alike.

Disgusting as it may seem to some people, Maurizio Savini uses thousands of chewed up pieces of bubble gum for each of his sculptures. He molds them into the desired shapes and when the whole thing is done, he fixes the sculpture with formaldehyde and antibiotics. The amazingly detailed chewing gum sculptures of Maurizio Savini have sold fro up to $60,000 each.

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The Incredible Wire Sculptures of Ivan Lovatt

Artist Ivan Lovatt has recreated the faces of celebrities such as Michael Jackson or The Beatles, using nothing but chicken wire.

Ivan Lovatt is one of those artists who are always looking for new media to experiment with, and for him chicken wire proved to be just what he needed. Before starting to mold chicken wire into intricate portraits, Ivan used it to give structure to some of his earlier sculptures. At one point, he began creating wildlife out of the unusual medium, and as his skills developed, he moved to celebrity portraits.

Most of his wire portraits take over a month to complete and about one and a half times larger than life size. Somehow, he manages to twist, bend and pin the wire in such a way that his portraits end up so detailed you can actually see every hair on their head. He became a professional sculptor six years ago, and since then , his works have been displayed in galleries and museums all around the world.

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The Steampunk Insects of Shojiro Yamauchi

Although he only recently graduated from the Nihon University College of Art, Shojiro Yamauchi is already considered one of the most talented metal sculptors in Japan. His most recent collection, entitled “Inhabitants of a Certain Planet”, features giant steampunk insects, including a cicada with its wings spread, a spider and a number of large ants. You can see the marksmanship of the artist in the detailed photos below.

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The Wooden Clothes of Fraser Smith

Get ready for a “can you believe the’re made of wood?!?” moment folks, because the sculpted clothes of Fraser Smith are unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Fraser Smith is a very talented wood sculptor who creates tromp l’oeil works using various soft wood essences. He specializes in carving the kind of things no one would ever believe could be created from wooden blocks, and manages to fool the human eye every time. At every one of his exhibitions, you’ll always here things like “Wow, there’s no way these are made of wood!” Yes, his wooden sculptures are so good most people can’t believe their eyes.

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The Pencil Tip Masterpices of Dalton Ghetti

Many artists use pencils to create their works of art, but in the case of  Dalton Ghetti, his pencils actually become artworks.

49-year-old Dalton Ghetti loved to carve things as long as he can remember. As a child, he used to carve his friends’ names into the sides of pencils and offer them as presents. Later, he took sculpting more seriously and began making large wooden sculptures, until he decided to challenge himself and make really tiny artworks. He experimented with many mediums, such as chalk, until the day he discovered pencil graphite.

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The Amazing Newspaper Sculptures of Nick Georgiou

The printed press may be dying, but Tucson based artist Nick Georgiou has found a way of breathing new life into old newspapers.

Nick’s art is inspired by the death of the printed world, economic crisis, and political and environmental uncertainty. He states “Books and newspapers are becoming artifacts of the 21st century. Whatever we used to read off paper, we’re now reading off digital screens. Our way of interacting with text is changing. My work is not only about the decline of the printed word in today’s society but its rebirth as art.”

Nick Georgiou uses old newspapers, collected by him or donated by others, tears them into folds and stitches them into various creatures. His works have been exhibited in various shows and galleries, bot in the US and abroad.

 

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Giant Mobile Is Made of Recycled Phones

A giant Nokia mobile phone has appeared in one of the biggest squares in Cluj, Romania, as part of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival.

Cluj is probably the most beautiful city in Romania, and I’m glad I finally get the chance to mention it in one of my posts. The first edition of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival aims to point out today’s environmental issues, and get the public and local authorities to take them more seriously.

As part of this eco-festival, local artists were asked to create various artworks out of waste. The most popular piece, so far, was a giant Nokia mobile phone, make of dozens of recycled mobiles, old keyboards and other computer parts.

 

 

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Tanys Pullin Creates World’s Largest Cheese Sculpture

Tanys Pullin, a British chef, well versed in the art of cheese cakes, has broken the record for the world’s largest cheese sculpture.

46-year-old Tanys, who claims to be the Nigella Lawson of the cheese world, had to work her magic on a 600 kg piece of cheddar cheese, in a fridge. Although she enjoys working with cheese, and has been doing it for many years, she didn’t consider herself the best cheese sculptor, and was really nervous throughout the whole process. But after eight days of carving, she created a beautiful cheese crown, to mark the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Her ‘cheesy’ masterpiece weighs a little under 500 kg, which is way more than the previous record (290 kg). Tanys Pullin is now waiting for an official confirmation, from the Guinness Book of Records.

One might thing working with cheese isn’t very difficult, but cheddar is a very tricky art medium, and Tanys had to keep her cheese sculpture at the right temperature, constantly spray it with olive oil and wrap it up, after each session, to prevent cracking.

Photos by APEX via Daily Mail

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The Unique Wood-Chip Sculptures of Sergei Bobkov

53-year-old Sergei Bobkov has patented a unique technique of creating amazing sculptures out of Siberian cedar wood-chips.

“It’s not very interesting to do what others can. To create something out of nothing in a completely new way is far more inspiring”. This is how Sergei Bobkov explains the unique form of art that he created. He says many people compare his artworks to taxidermy, because they both look so much like the animals they replicate, but Sergei believes they are as different as light and darkness. Whereas taxidermy is all about death, his wood-chip art symbolizes life.

This resident of Kozhany, Russia, has developed his very own technique, that prevents wood-chips from falling apart, in time. After creating about 100-150 chips, from 2-3 inch long cedar stick, he puts them in water for several days. Then, making use of his surgical precision, he carves the chips into any shape he needs.

Sergey has been doing this for some time now, but he has only created 11 wood-chip sculptures. That’s because just one of these incredible artworks takes around six months t complete, at a work rate of 10 to 12 hours a day, with no days off. Sergei Bobkov focuses on wildlife creatures, and he studies their anatomy for months, before starting work on a sculpture.

Even though he was offered $17,000 for his wood-chip eagle.Sergei’s Bobkov declined, saying his rt is not for sale.

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