British artist crafts new portraits from old technology

[September 17, 2018]  LONDON (Reuters) - British artist Nick Gentry is giving a second life to unfashionable and obsolete storage devices, such as video cassettes, floppy disks and CDs, by turning them into art.

The 38-year-old Londoner paints large portraits over the items shaped into the frame of his subject.

He also grinds down CDs, mixing the broken fragments with a resin glue to create sculptures of people

"I like to use obsolete media in my work," he told Reuters.

"CDs are a big one for me. I've used, in the past, film negatives, X-rays and floppy disks. They are like artifacts of our culture and that to me feels like something worth keeping, worth celebrating."

His works are being presented at London's Opera Gallery in a joint exhibition titled, "Human Connection," until Sept. 28.

((Reporting by Jayson Mansaray; Writing by Patrick Johnston; Editing by Alison Williams))

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.