Existing comment:
I Gave Red Bull Wings
Vincent Castelli, 25, Artist
Ravena, NY
The name of Vincent Castelli's entry says it all: "I Gave Red Bull Wings." Inspired by a quirky combination of mental images – the whimsy of Red Bull commercials and the beauty of wings – Castelli created an all-metal artwork that incorporates quite a large number of cans. ("I'm not really sure how many – a lot!" the artist reports.) Castelli does know how much time it took to complete the project: "I have to give a big thanks to Emily Wilcox and Justin Zimmer at firstfloordown.com," he states. "Collaboratively, the piece took about 300 hours to produce." And those 300 hours of work were crammed into the space of just two weeks!
Such dedication isn't surprising from this artist. Castelli thrives on the process of creating things from scratch and figuring out how to realize his ideas. Building the winged sculpture demanded some innovative thinking, like using the blunt end of a paintbrush as a tool. The 25-year-old, who resides in the upstate New York village of Ravena, says he was motivated by "the challenge of just using cans to make something in our throwaway society." He declares, "The whole experience was great." |