Space Age Art from Modern Age Junk
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.28.07
You can take your old junk and landfill it or ship it to China, or you can give it to Jimmy Descant, who turns it into space age art. Clearly the man spent far too much time watching old Buck Rogers serials as a kid, for this stuff is beyond retro. However, he is serious about recycling and carefully documents the provenance of every part. This 2002 Quasar Hotrod Vacuum Rocketship is based on a 1950's Kenmore vacuum cleaner, with added features:
Front: Pot top, red vinyl record, juicer base, optomotrist chin rest bracket (the long top front piece), curved sprinkler, red knob, metal spinner
Back: Saw blade, pot top, speaker frame, pot tops, red vinyl record,silver funnel, Christmas tree stand
Wings: Chrome exhaust pipes.
Body: American Beauty iron handle on top, bakelite spoon handle rudder, wavy antenna
Lighting: Top gooseneck, flicker flames underneath; rear flicker flame tail
Base: Aluminum nose cone for an industrial water pump, with 4 pool balls; small hood ornament rocket by a pot top knob moon; red pot top, top of an old extinguisher.
Circa 1996 retro website at ::deluxerocketships via ::Haute Nature
Jimmy's work is awesome! Love his eye for detail and composition, and can't beat the recycling aspect. You can see more of his work in Boulder at the Art and Soul Gallery, and also in Denver, where he decked out an entire apartment building, aptly named Rocket.