London-based artist Nick Gentry works with rather unusual mediums – discarded floppy disks and old eight track cassettes. Using these simple outdated and unwanted materials; the artist manages to create stunning portraits.

Spotlight by Nick Gentry

“Over the years billions upon billions of disks and tapes have been manufactured and today they are widely regarded as junk. This makes them an affordable thing to make art with,” explains the artist of his work. “Reusing objects that would ordinarily have been sent to landfill makes a comment on the throwaway culture of today. Maybe this work can encourage people to think more creatively about the objects that are deemed to be obsolete or useless.”

Self Portrait 02 by Nick Gentry

Each portrait involves several steps to achieve the unfinished, almost industrial feel of the art. Gentry starts with preliminary sketches and then creates a grid of the images, with each component divided into disk-shaped sections.

Sonata by Nick Gentry

“Spray paint is applied to the disks using a stencil to preserve the label and metal slider. Preserving the labels is key, as the handwriting and scribbling are integral to the personality and history of each piece,” Gentry explains. “Elements of people’s lives are stored on the disks and although that data can never be accessed again I like to preserve some of that for viewing.”

After the disks are placed in tonally appropriate areas, almost like pixels, to create a collage, Gentry sketches the outline of the head and the features in pencil, with oil paint to finish the details.

Infinite Echoes by Nick Gentry

“This process is quite selective as only certain features are finished completely. I like to leave a lot unfinished as it allows the viewer to see the layers, showing how the work has been created,” he explains. “What brings the work to life is that blend of the nostalgic and familiar, together with the freshness of a new form of expression.”

Source: GreenMuze