Good on Paper: Found Art

Annie Block, Mark McMenamin, and Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 8/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

To make Shut Up and Kiss Me, Sandhi Schimmel Gold glued junk mail to canvas.

Who says print is a dying medium? These artists have discovered more creative outlets for wastepaper than the recycling bin. Junk-mail-on-canvas is the medium of choice for Sandhi Schimmel Gold, who up-cycles paper and cards into collaged portraits on view in Los Angeles through September 15 at the Loft at Liz's. Galia Gluckman, winner of an eco award at New York's International Artexpo, takes a similar approach, cutting up magazines and other printed papers and pasting them in mosaiclike compositions on large pieces of hardboard. Phillip Hua, who's demonstrating how he works during San Francisco's SOMA Open Studios on October 24 and 25, forges visual dynamics between economics and the environment by printing multicolored digital images of trees on pages from the Wall Street Journal. And the trend transcends mere individuals. New York's Museum of Arts and Design unveils "Slash: Paper Under the Knife" on October 7.