Thursday, April 5, 2012

Art: Andrew Myers

 

Much as the topic begs for some puns and word play using the word “screw”, I will refrain from doing so.

Instead I will simply introduce you to the artworks of Andrew Myers, a California based artist who uses screws to make amazing portraits. 

His website is at:

Myers was working on a church bronze relief of the life of Saint Catherine when he wondered about creating a portrait using screws.  The first portrait took him six months because of the challenges to be met and overcome.  It might be screwy to others to use such an item for artworks but Myers stuck with it, refusing to be screwed by the difficulties (sorry, that just snuck in). 

Myers does not use a computer to plan the works or assist in the execution.  Instead he prepares a rough sketch, places screws at some of the main reference points and from there works out where the rest of the screws go and to what depth.  Each portrait uses between 6,000 and 10,000 screws. Backgrounds consist of phone book pages, usually from the area where the subject lives.  Tone changes come from the differing depths of the screws and the painting of the tops of the screws, the differing depths also creating a 3D effect to the portrait.

“I liked the ideas of using screws because of the industrial aspect and the harshness that comes with using it as a material.”
-       Andrew Myers

Some pics:

  






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