The Philadelphia Airport has become my airport of choice lately.   And it’s not because of the cheap parking or close proximity to my house, it’s because of the rotating exhibitions throughout the airport.   I’ve blogged about a cool art exhibition that used nothing more than brown tape to make portraits before and now I’m going to share something else: weird collections.

That fluffy fabric “cake” in the pic?   It’s a collection of someone’s dryer lint over the years.    Why do I think there are hundreds of those mounds in their house?

Matchbook colletion.   Ok, that’s a bit more normal.  I’ve always thought about starting one of these and putting them in a large tarnished bowl in the living room.   Problem is, I end up using the matches all the time to light candles.

An owl collection.  Okay, here’s where I start to rant a bit about theme-only collections.  If you only collect owls, aren’t there tens of thousands of possibilities here?   Maybe millions?   Where does it end?   I’m all for the thrill of the hunt, but I’m also for not having my house crowded with more stuff.

Or Smurfs…

Although olive oil cans from around the world is interesting, since the canisters are always so intricately designed.   Maybe I’ll stick with my accidental collection of wine corks I have all over the house.   However did I collect so many?

I don’t know what it is with me and airports and acting like I’m at an art gallery or museum.   This will officially be my third post on creative reuse that I spied at an airport.  This time: Philadelphia International Airport.      The artist: Mark Khaisman.    The theme: Tape Noir.

Mark uses translucent packing tape as his medium, snipping, cutting, folding and twisting tape a certain way to manipulate it as if it were pieces of stained glass.  The end result is something that appears as cubist photography, an Amber glowing portrait that comes together with light poring through the back of it.     

From his website:

How would you describe the style of your work?

My works are large archetypal representational images, made from layer upon layer of translucent packing tape, applied to clear Plexiglas and placed in front of a light box to give the image shadow and depth. I see my tape art as a form of painting. The 2-inch tape acts as a wide brush, and the light behind the panels as an alchemist’s luminous blending medium. In working with tape, like in painting, accident and control are always present.

How you came to working with tape?

My Tape Art is a conversation with light. I started it like a traditional stained glass artist, but with tape: I found I could continue my conversation with light, but in a more expedient manner. I might have never thought of this “medium” if not for my working in stained glass. Yet, tapes happened to be much more than just a replacement of the stained glass medium. It miraculously bonded together all my previous experiences. 

Here’s a more detailed shot of the portrait.  You can see layer upon layer of tape, some areas thinner than other parts to create contrast.  Usually, when I study a finished “project” long enough, I can figure out a way to replicate the idea at home (if I was so inclined).  Here, I’m stumped.   It’s brilliant, really.

www.khaismanstudio.com/