While most of us see office supplies as a means for productivity, these 10 artists have used them as tools to produce incredible works of art. We hope you enjoy this list!
Pietro D’Angelo, Paperclips
Pietro D’Angelo takes 2-3 months to compose his life-size figures that require 10,000 – 12,000 paper clips. Although the artist now uses custom made stainless steel paperclips to create these art pieces, he began with paper clips from office supply stores.
Yo Shamida, Post-Its
In 2011, Architect Yo Shimada created Sticky Note Structures with the help of students from the Kyoto University of Art and Design using 30,000 Post-it notes.
Eric Daigh, Pushpins
Daigh makes large-scale portraits using thousands of colored tacks as the primary medium. From far away, the portraits appear similar to a photograph. When the viewer moves closer to the composition, the artworks appear more pixel-like.
Zachary Abel, Paperclips
According to mathematician/artist Zachary Abel, “the paperclips should support themselves without glue, solder, etc., and the pieces should be recognizable as paperclips, with as little modification as possible. In this design, half of the paperclips have been bent at the middle, and the other half are intact and outline the central triangles.”
Peter Root, Staples
Peter Root spent approximately 40 hours building this miniature city staple art installation on the floor of a financial building.
Jill Townsley, Spoons and Rubber Bands
Jill Townsley built a massive art installation using 9,273 plastic spoons and 3,091 Rubber bands.
Peter Callesen, Paper
Peter Callesen’ starts with cutting shapes out of a single sheet of paper and uses the removed paper to form structures and figures. The dimensions of his work range from 8″x11″ to as big as 23’x21’.
Jonathan Brilliant, Coffee Stir Sticks and Coffee Cup Sleeves
Jonathan Brilliant used 40,000 wooden coffee stir sticks woven in place and held by tension, 2,600 coffee cup sleeves stacked one inside of another, braided aluminum cable, and ferrules to build this installation.
Jennifer Maestre, Pencils
“To make the pencil sculptures, I take hundreds of pencils, cut them into 1-inch sections, drill a hole in each section (to turn them into beads), sharpen them all and sew them together. The beading technique I rely on most is peyote stitch.” — Jennifer Maestre
Baptiste Debombourg, Staples
Baptiste Debombourg uses 450,000 staples to create artworks are thought-provoking and beautiful.
Next time you’re done using a paperclip, coffee stir stick, or rubber band, consider repurposing it; you might find inspiration to create something beautiful! Speaking of recycling, have you checked out our post about 12 office products you might’ve not known were eco-friendly?
Did you know that with your AMO Membership, you have access to special pricing on the items the artists used to create their pieces? Not an AMO Member? Becoming an AMO Member is completely free, sign up today!