Paul Villinski believes that “one generation’s trash will be another’s treasure.” He has rescued crushed beer cans from the streets of New York and transformed them, with tin snips and files, into beautiful butterflies that he arranges in different compositions on the wall. We saw this post over at Modish, and we love the way these airy installations turn a wall, or a whole room, into a blank canvas…
Just “a bit of movement in the air” can cause these delicate, one-of-a-kind butterflies to flutter. Artist Paul Villinski reworks crumpled aluminum beer cans into “images that suggest the possibility of change itself.” Villinski is enthralled with the transformational symbolism of the butterfly, and his pieces seem to transform blank walls into multi-dimensional canvases.
We would love to have a piece of his, but are pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to afford a custom installation. His work does, however, provide quite a bit of inspiration for us---perhaps our next DIY project? Thanks to Modish for spotlighting his gorgeous work!
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Comments (29)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Butterflies remind me of Mariah Carey. No can do.
The effect is beautiful and its really his mounting mechanism that is the stroke of genius, stems of thin metal to provide movement.
it's gorgeous but it also makes me itchy.
There is nothing "twee" about the work of Paul Villiski; check out his website, and the butterfly installations there -- stunning.
Not twee at all. Absolutely stunning, in fact. Twee would be three or five, with rainbow colors. A flock of these, artfully placed to evoke movement and lightness, and done essentially as silhouettes ... is lovely.
And they are insects, not bugs. Bugs are a distinct thing (and cute).
I beleive we had one of his installations in a room of a recent SF Decorator Showhouse - and they were beautiful.
Butterflies remind me of caterpillars, spring days, milkweed, Pacific Grove, a hand-painted china teacup that I gave my Mom for Mother's Day when I was a little boy...
...and Neiman Marcus shopping bags.
I find these displays, be they birds, bees, butterflies or something else, to be really annoying. Too much clutter and visually irritating. Given how often I'm seeing them, I am clearly in the minority in this opinion. This kind of display is replacing antlers/mounted animal heads as the popular new design trend. I hope it wears itself out quickly.
I agree that these are not at all twee. While I have certainly seen my share of twee butterfly decor, this is on a whole other level - especially when you consider the concept behind it. Beautiful.
Lovely and delicate. I'd go for this in a heartbeat.
Do you really want to dust these?
The black ones are The Birds-ish, but the others are lovely.
I love the gold!
And agree with KTG about thumbnails sucking. This post is so much more pleasant to read because I don't have to click on every pick and then back through.
Whoops. Meant "pic"
Dust? oh ha ha. Srsly.
I would like to see how he makes these, but I suppose that's his secret. But I'm gonna go cut up a 7Up can now.
Rather reminiscent of Yorgos Kypris's work, though he also does fish and birds: http://www.matiartgallery.com/index.php?id=635
i like the creepy black ones
I love the concept, but definitely overdid butterfly decor years ago. Sad, b/c I'd like to like these unfettered. But I could see doing it DIY (M?) with schools of fish or leaves, as though they are blowing about in wind.
Ohhh.. yeah, the more I think of it, I like the idea of leaves like this. Blown along the baseboard in swirls? I could get behind that.
I think these were installed in Shigeru Ban's Furniture House in Sagaponac: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/look/look-revisiting-shigeru-bans-sagaponac-furniture-house-077599
(the link to the original Telegraph article doesn't seem to be working right now, but if you follow it, there's a photo of the butterflies installed on one of the plywood walls)
Thumbnails are a big ole thumbs down. Thanks for bringing it up!
Hate thumbnails.
For some reason the butterflies aren't all that bad and I am so not into twee.
I hate the thumbnails too. They interrupt the reading. Very annoying.
Oh and... maybe it's just me, but my head exploded by the differentiation of insect and bug... isn't bug the colloquial term for insect? jeje it's late, I should go to sleep.
was this who did the black butterly installation at the philadelphia art museum (thats now gone...so sad) did anyone see that this summer? an entire room absolutely covered with swarming butterflies, soaring up the the super high ceilings and escaping up the adjoining stairway. it was pretty maginificent, i watched them take it down slowly too. like the trees lose their leaves in fall.
There is no way that he is getting that level of detail from a pair of even the finest tin snips. I'm guessing laser-cut.
Actually, I'm recreating this project right now and I haven't even needed tin snips! I was shopping online for jeweler's tin snips when I though - oh hell, I'll just try using regular scissors and see what happens. Worst happens, I waste a beer can. Turns out The material used to make coke and beer cans is almost as easy to cut as paper! I'm getting amazing detail! It's a little time-consuming, but I've got thirty butterflies now. I just do it in my down time while the tv is on. I haven't painted them yet, but the silver on the top side and the colors on the underside actually looks really neat and I've gotten so many compliments on the way they look mounted with just a little bit of tacky flying across the large mirror in my living room. Had a request to make some for other people too!
YOU GO, thatjessicagirl! Yes, aluminum beer cans are easily cut out, though something of this scale is clearly a time consumer. A range of comments never fails to crack me up! HOW ARE THE CUT-OUTS ATTACHED TO THE WALL??? I'm really lost here, help please. It's an unconventional idea with loads of possibilities that lends itself to limitless interpretation, and goes from so elegant (as illustrated) to fun. What I really like about this idea is the shadow-play, which could be left to shift in natural sunlight if available in the space, or easily manipulated.
My cat would have a field day with these if I even attempted to do some sort of installation in my apartment. Sad times...
Great tip thatjessicagirl! How did you attach them to the mirror? Would love to have this installation in the backyard streaming into the kitchen.