Atlas Obscura Spotlight: Three Awesome Art Junkyards
Sometimes one man’s art is another man’s treasure – literally. One fellow sees junk where another see’s a Coca-Cola can sculpture of Jesus in the making. These three artists take the stuff we don’t want and make it into something they hope conveys beauty, or at least a warning to stop throwing away so many hubcaps. The three junk artists below honed their craft with galleries in their own homes.
He’s not the first junk artist, but he’s probably one of the oldest. Jack Barker, 77, has converted his home in Essex, IL into a veritable metal museum. The former owner of an auto body shop, Barker scatters his scrap metal sculptures all across his yard. He’s had people buy his junk art and entertained visitors from as far as Asia. (Photo Source: Anne Remy)
The Gage, OK stomping grounds of artist Jim Powers were visible by the hub-capped dinosaur in the front yard. Intimidating, we’ll say. Powers loved him some scrap metal, and his mostly animal sculptures even made it into Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and museums in Asia. Sadly, Powers passed away in 2006, but his truly artistic way with junk lives on. (Photo Source)
Mark Bradford’s Houston, TX junk art yard beckons with mostly metallic animals. He favors car parts, but also incorporates metal like spoons to make things like a 20-foot praying mantis and a car-sized scorpion. The stuff of nightmares, or dreams if you are like us. Watch the clip below to see what else he’s done. (Photo Source)
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