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Hubcap Creatures

We're all familiar with hubcaps as the utilitarian devices that cover our wheels, helping travelers everywhere roll around in style. But one artist has found a new purpose for these protective pieces of metal: fashioning fantastical animals out of what used to be rubbish.

Ranging from the prosaic–turtles, fish, bugs–to the outlandish (full-sized dragons!) the artist Ptolemy reshapes hubcaps to create startlingly real-looking creatures. He often strategically incorporates the brand's logo into the sculpture's design; hence the BMW piranha.

All of Ptolemy's creations are made exclusively from 100% recycled materials. This means that everything that is now a sculpture, used to be spinning around on the wheels of a car, so the metal bears all the scratches and abrasions from it's former life, just like a real creature would.

To see one of these metallic beauties in person, you'll have to travel to the UK area: most of the hubcap creatures can be found crawling on the walls or clinging to the ceiling in pubs and stores around Brighton. You can order pieces online, or commission a creature of your own. Either way, you save the environment in a unique, creative way. Or you can just wait til the next time you're in Britain. MR

2008 Jun 15 no responses. share this

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