Circuit Board Fossils, Paintings and Other Found Object Sculptures by Peter McFarlane:
Mixed media and installation artist
Peter McFarlane has spent his life turning found objects, computer waste and other discarded materials into sculptures, installations, and even the backdrops of paintings. Of his work McFarlane says:
To me, waste is just lack of imagination. This belief carries beyond the boundaries of my art production and permeates most aspects of my life. Most of my home and studio, and much of everything in them, is recycled. I’ve always had an epic imagination along with a driving desire to make things. Thus, used objects have pared my options down to a workable, manageable level. No object is beyond artistic merit, meaning and metaphor. So why throw it out? The materials of my work are connected intrinsically to my ideas, be they tailored beyond recognition or left as found. Each piece I make resurrects an object as an idea specific to the material and the meaning inherent in its use. The history of the object — from the manufacture to the dumpster — embellishes its contexts and the possibilities I have to manipulate them. I have often made a connection with the objects that I’ve used in my everyday life or work experience: that which I know.
You can see much more of his work over at
Saatchi Online as well as in his
portfolio and he recently had a show of chainsaw sculptures (!) at
Pegasus Gallery in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia just last month.
