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Rockstars Get Rewound Through Cassette Tape Art

You probably made a mixtape back in the day. And from the safety of retrospection, you can admit filling it with all the Morrissey-provided angst it could fit, all in hopes of communicating the depths of your love to that girl in third period you could only manage to speak to in monosyllables.

Today, your earnest masterpiece is most likely one of many abandoned cassette tapes collecting dust in garages, closets, and thrift stores across America-square victims of both the CD and MP3 player. But mixed-media artist Erika Iris Simmons has found a creative way to breathe new life into the outmoded media, creating portraits of rock icons using the uncoiled ribbon within the tapes.


Treehugger has photos of a few portraits from the series (Simmons's Flickr page has more), along with details on the recycled art:

Simmons, who works under the pseudonym Iri5, first stumbled upon the idea to transform cassettes into portraits after noting a similarity between a pile of unrolled film and the Jimmy Hendrix's untamed locks. She soon set out to make her first piece: a portrait of the rock idol himself.

Other materials repurposed by Simmons includes magazine clippings, film tape, and playing cards-non-traditional mediums that make the old new in a way that's both modern and sustainable.

What artist would you like to see Simmons tackle next with her cassette tape art? I call Thom Yorke. Capturing that lazy eye would be a challenge all its own.

Photo (cc) Flickr user iri5

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