It’s Not What They Seem

There are many deceptions in art, much of it is failed attempts at best, but this isn’t one of those because the art of Tom Deininger, despite being enormous in size, can fool even the most trained eye. What appears as a series of beautiful landscapes is actually an amalgamation of tiny everyday objects such as toys, wires, parts and other such junk. It is until you come close to the so called painting you begin to notice that the details are not creates by brush strokes but rather with glued everyday junk one on top of another. This is one of those cases where junk becomes valuable, when it’s in the master’s hand. In this installation piece called “Ansel’s Aspens” Deininger is paying a tribute to Ansel Adams who was the greatest landscape photographer of all time. It is proper to assume then that Deininger was inspired by Ansel Adams’s work, and it is reflected in the type of subjects that he mostly pursues, although he does explore many other subjects as well. The process of his work in “Timelapse Portrait” is shown in an animation below.

In addition to creating his junk art Deininger also creates canvas paintings.