Metal Metcalfe, Botanicals (Classic)

Description

Botanicals (Classic). Repurposed 44 gallon steel drums. 420 x 600 mm. 

Artist Statement:

Bees followed Amy’s car as she drove to the workshop with her first honey drums, little did she know where these three, baby-blue coloured 44 gallon drums would take her and her sister, Katie. Fast forward a few years and our raw material repurposed drums are sourced from multiple food-based businesses in a huge palette of colours. For the vast majority of our work we utilise the original colours of the drums and make the most of the branding and logos printed on them. Play, colour and sustainable practices are at the core of how we work, we are big kids at heart and continue the exploration of crazy ideas that started many decades ago around our family kitchen table. Our Botanicals collection was launched in September 2022 and explores our love of nature through one of our favourite tipples: gin. We’ve selected 11 botanicals for their colour and form to create dense, distilled landscapes in a series of colour combinations. Each colour combination represented a ‘personality’ in which our METcALfe gin might be enjoyed. ‘Classic’ is the unadulterated, straight-up member of the line-up and is displayed here in the exhibition (Adventurous and Kickback sold at launch). Through our joyful, playful and colourful artworks we seek to challenge the value of materials and peoples perception of value: who would have thought these heavy, hard-working industrial vessels could be made into delicate, whimsical, playful artworks? We have given them a second life, where will they take us?