Painting a picture onto a canvas or sculpting a figure out of clay is one thing, but I've always been impressed by artists who are able to take random piles of junk and turn them into beautiful pieces of art. 'Found Object' art has been around since the early 1900s, and French artist Edouard Martinet has absolutely mastered the technique, turning flea market finds and scrap metal into life-like insect sculptures that you've gotta see to believe.
Martinet recalls being introduced to insects by one of his school teachers at just ten years old, and over 40 years later insects have become the bread and butter of his unique art form. Rather than soldering or welding together bits of metal to form his creations, Martinet instead meticulously screws together each individual element, spending at least a month on a single piece. The resulting sculptures are absolutely breathtaking - bike lights becoming thoraxes, chain guards becoming elegant wings and a watch case becoming the eyes of a wasp.
Martinet's insects will be on display at London's Sladmore Contemporary, from November 27th of this year through January of next year. You can see all of his work over on his website, which includes descriptions of each part of each piece, and where they all came from!