Lid 5 by Nite Owl

Mixed Media on Reclaimed Paint Bucket Lid

8H x 7W, approx | Ready to Hang | Price Includes Shipping in the US

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This series of works you see before you arose from crisis. Being stuck at home with all commitments, deadlines and art shows erased from life allowed me to chase ideas that were previously off limits due to financial obligations and other chains that bound me. 

During this summer, I decided to challenge myself and my artistic abilities. I have been working in a “cartoonish” manner for a while and I wanted to take the lessons I’ve learned from that style and elevate my works to the next level. The last three years were about transitioning from spray cans to paint brushes. In these new works I've explored an Impressionistic style such as Monet and Manet did. The brush strokes and the colors were more important to me than nailing down the exact feather placements. 

I’m an avid upcycler and I had been collecting rusted paint buckets, lids, cans and other items for a while now. Their raw potential called me. They sat in a wine box collecting dust in the corner of my studio, nothing more than an eyesore, a pile of junk. With the artistic freedom I now had, it was clear that it was time to pursue these “canvases” and make something of this pile of rusted metal. I combined the rusted lids with pieces of driftwood I had found while walking the beaches of Pacifica and San Francisco this summer. The wood is a subtle background that has its own character and allows for a nice juxtaposition of elements.

I chose to work on these rusted items because they conveyed a sense of decay and deterioration that nobody or nothing can avoid. We all age. We go from being a “polished and shiny” version of ourselves to grayed out, creaky human beings. These metal buckets and lids are quite similar. In the store they are perfect, shiny circles waiting to be released into the outside world where the natural elements can have their way with them. By turning these pieces into artwork I’ve been able to suspend in place the “decaying” process. (ALL pieces have been given a few coats of varnish to suspend the rust process and ensure that the piece you buy won’t deteriorate while hanging on your wall).