Written by Rina Shah, CNN
In her last show, “Scrapheap Crates,” gallery owner Molly Sykes allowed art lovers to buy any of the thousands of pieces of new art that had been made out of scavenged materials in the space of a few days.
“I found it mesmerizing to see what someone wanted,” Sykes says. “And sometimes, what I didn’t want.”
Satisfied with her own experience and struck by the response from the people she’d worked with, she decided to change the concept. Over the last two months, the 60-year-old woman from Watford, Hertfordshire, has painted herself into the role of master for hire — creating artwork out of the murals left in public spaces all over the UK.
“When I was at home doing [the art for sale project], I noticed I had too much food,” she says. “So I started off doing artwork out of material scraps — things like newspaper, baking parchment, brick, marbles, cement and cement mixers. I would sit at home and make two or three pieces every day.”
“Everything has its price.”
Sekyi Makawe
After the success of the scrapheap works, Sykes began creating up to 10,000 square feet of her own artwork every month.
Some are just “paintings in a box,” according to Sykes, and most are added to existing public murals around the UK. The inspiration for a specific piece, though, is usually random.
“A paper bag I put on the gallery’s wall had a tattoo on it,” she says. “So I put a passport stamp on there.”
Sykes looks at her work — similar to Banksy’s work — and chooses the best elements. Afterward, she cuts each piece into segments and roughs them out in a 3D format. The pieces are then nailed together into a final product, one every 10,000 pieces.
“Everything has its price,” she says. “After auction, you want to sell as much as you can.”
However, her art is for profit, not charity, and currently sells at around $1,500. That helps to fund her livelihood as a publicist. “I don’t make any money in the real world,” she adds.
“What I do is great. I love it. I know it’s like drinking a glass of water. But when you look at it, it’s worth it.”