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When one thinks of great art, there’s often the expectation of carefully prepared canvasses, lush materials, and skilled, complex detail. But it doesn’t always take a horde of materials to make something impressive – sometimes all it takes is a little plastic and some brown packing tape. CNN reports that Philly artist Mark Khaisman is taking these seemingly mundane materials and turning them into a series of scenes from Hitchcock films (The 39 Steps](The 39 Steps (1935) - Movie | Moviefone) and Spellbound](Spellbound (1945) - Movie | Moviefone)) plus a number of glimpses into Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street](Pickup on South Street (1953) - Movie | Moviefone). The image above – that’s Spellbound. (The rest are housed in a gallery at CNN.)
This is nothing more than clear plastic panels and brown, translucent tape. Looking at the shirt – it’s fathomable – a series of strips that, when laid on top of each other, creates areas of light and shadow. But look at the faces, and most especially, the hair. This isn’t just a stained glass-like mosaic – the artist is a former stained glass designer – there’s tone and depth in each piece. Texture.
Props and posters might be cool, but imagine walking into a home theater with a piece like this glowing on the wall. Forget movie ads. I’ll take some packing tape art any day*.*