Nick Gentry:
I'm Nick Gentry. I'm an artist from London.
So I use a lot of outdated technology, old stuff that's kind of, you know, had the end of its original, kind of, intended life and is now deemed, sort of, useless, really. So with floppy disks, I create a canvas with them. And they sort of go on to form the main subject of each piece. By doing that, I'm basically just showing as much of the disks and the canvas as possible, and then the painting is merely an access point to that.
The subject is a mystery and it is embedded in the canvas and it is loaded into those floppy disks. It's… It's, kind of, locked down in there forever, really. There's a sort of element of recycling or repurposing within the work. Marcel Duchamp took a urinal out and just put it into the gallery and said, 'That's art.' So from that point on, I think artists started to realise that you didn't have to have a canvas, you didn't have to have paint and a paintbrush. You're not really restricted too much by your materials. It's all about your ideas and where you want to take it.
I get people to send me stuff, and I use those things to, kind of, work in my art. And I receive all of these materials from everywhere, you know, all over the world. They sort of have a history of their own already. And so what I'm trying to do is just show that. Social media just allows me to, kind of, communicate with these people and create some kind of connection, really.
These are the most personal, really, out of all the things. I think the floppy disks can be. The film negatives can be, you know, depending on what they've taken pictures of. But nothing really gets much more personal than an X-ray.
As well as showing in galleries, I think it's quite important for me to show my work online so that people can get an idea of what I'm doing and contribute to the project. It's as much about sharing as showing your work, really.
Video summary
Artist Nick Gentry explains how he reuses outdated technology to create his artwork, including floppy discs and old x-rays.
He explains how the concept of his artwork is inspired by Marcel Duchamp and his iconic ‘Fountain’ piece, in particular.
Gentry explains how Duchamp placed a porceline urinal in a gallery and called it art, therefore artists should not be restricted by materials such as canvas, but feel free to reuse materials.
He sifts through old materials such as x-rays, negatives and discs that have a previous history and explains how social media is a source of communication for people to send him these items.
This clip is from Making Art Work, a BBC 2 Learning Zone compilation of short films following six UK-based leading artists as they create new artwork from scratch.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used to demonstrate the concept of using recycled objects to create artwork by transforming or renewing it. Students could have a go at reusing and/ or re-purposing items to make a piece of recycled art.
These clips will be relevant for teaching Art and Design at GCSE/KS4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/5 or Higher in Scotland.
The topics discussed will support OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland and SQA National 4/5 and Higher in Scotland.
Creating a portrait from old floppy discs. video
Nick Gentry takes on the challenge of using some of the old floppy disks that he’s been sent to create a portrait.
What inspires artist Nick Gentry? video
Artist Nick Gentry talks about what inspires his artwork and explains how his inspiration can often come from very mundane and everyday things.
Tools and techniques for making art with recycled materials. video
Artist Nick Gentry demonstrates how he uses old materials that people have sent to him in his artwork.
