Junk Art: Mr. Peanuts
2014 / Collaboration with Zack Fraser
Materials: foam peanuts, plastic wrap, clear tape, glue gun
On a leisurely night walk one day around the neighborhood, Zack and I found a huge trash bag filled with packing peanuts in an alleyway. Whoever was throwing away clearly had no more use for it and didn't want it taking up their space. We, on the other hand, were thrilled to find a whole lot of material which we could use to make something new. Used for shock absorption, packing peanuts are ubiquitous, lightweight, and disposable. Once they serve their purpose, they are quickly thrown out with abandon. Once whatever fragile item they were protecting is delivered intact, they become more useless than the box they came with. We re-imagined these thrown out pieces in the form of a forlorn homeless man/guardian, who was kicked out onto the streets once he was no longer needed. We wanted to create the aura of a solitary figure, whose sole purpose in life was to protect something or someone fragile and ensure their safe passage.
