Eric Timothy Carlson‘s abstract tape painting reminds of a) how great ordinary tape is for making stuff, including a la minute artworks b) you don’t need to get crazy about it. It can be a fun few moments of exploration that you rip off the wall when you’re tired of it. Perfect for the weekend.

Dig around in your tape collection or pick up some blue painter’s tape (or whichever tape that calls you and makes sense i.e. masking if you don’t want to hurt your walls, electrical or duck if you’re going for permanence, and possibly graffiti). Then follow where it goes.

Artist Holton Rower and his artful daughter Isabel whipped up this flying bird together in about a minute.

Sally Schneider

We first got inspired by tape years ago when we saw this work a dad make for his young daughter at the lovely Stork Bites Man blog. Totally modern…

 

Stork Bites Man

Then we saw this astonishing blue tape arrangement on the window of a loft we visited. It was the work of artist Tony Feher (more here) who is a role model of blue tape creativity.

It’s just bits of blue tape. Yeah, JUST bits of blue tape, brilliantly placed.

Dominic Wilcox unwittingly transformed bits of blue tape into a big flower sculpture:

Design Milk

It seems to have had a mind of its own…

I started by tearing off small bits of tape and sticking them to the inside of the tape itself. As I added more tape I was unsure what sort of shape the tape would form into.

I always enjoy making things that I can’t quite predict the outcome of. 

The tape shape started to curve outwards. I had no way of controlling the form, it just started to go that way naturally as I added more tape. The larger the tape shape grew the more it started to spread out. It reminded me of the way a flower grows, the growing shape seems to be predetermined from the tape “seed” – I was just revealing the shape. I try not to think about what else it could become too early as it tends to close down future developments. I have ideas and experiments ahead.

Design Milk

…ideas and experiments ahead…

buff diss / lustik.tumblr.com

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One thought on “Tape in the Hands of Artists Like You Make for Sublime and Unpredictable Outcomes

  1. Love your website it makes my day I just had back surgery and am in bed and not comfortable but once again what a wonderful way to start the day thank you so much Susan Cassandra greene

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