Mind-Blowing Pieces of Art (Made With The Most Random Stuff)

Berry doesn't use dyes, so it can take him several weeks to achieve all those shades of urban decay. Like a redneck mosaic, he stitches together tiny individual elements cut from various denims, from the humble pair of workman's jeans to the vainglorious Whitesnake vest. And Berry has a near endless supply of denim, thanks to people from all over the world sending him their mom jeans in the hopes that they might be used for something less embarrassing than wearing them.

Ian Berry

Ian BerryForget you, Picasso. THIS is a blue period.

In addition to those city scenes and portraits, Berry has created the Secret Garden, a lush jungle oasis put together from the last batch of denim made in the United States. It's for the New York City Children's Museum of the Arts, and Berry hopes it will inspire kids to play outside and discover nature. Because what says "nature" like artificial flowers made from cotton that's been pulverized and factory-assembled into the roughest fabric we deign to touch?

Ian BerryHopefully it comes with an assurance that real nature is a lot less likely to give you rug burn.

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Mori was discovered by his college buddy, pianist Keisuke Usuda, who realized his unique ability could change the music world ... or at least look weird enough that people would pay a lot of money to see it. Thus was the hand-flute / piano duo called Childhood born.

Although their inspirational New Age sound hasn't yet convinced the masses to put down their arms and embrace one another with open hands/flutes, it has taken them around the world to perform for Earth's most discerning novelty instrument aficionados.

Like Michelangelo's first encounter with the Medicis or Vincent van Gogh moving to Arles, every great artist has their breakout moment. Wade's epiphany manifested when he thought to use a frayed, chewed-up Popsicle stick as a paintbrush. The discovery inspired him to try other tools and develop his craft.

Scott WadeWe guess that's good, but still, it's no Dogs Playing Poker.

In a perfect world, Wade says he prefers to use "natural canvases," or naturally dirty cars. It takes a lot of back road driving for windshields to accumulate that much dirt, though, so for his shows, Berry coats the windshields with oil and uses a blow dryer to apply fine dirt or powdered mineral.

Scott WadeHe's the Claude Monet of the mud-caked '88 Plymoth Colt.

Sometimes the carvings are fashioned into beads:

Jewelscollectingdust.co.uk

Or gaudy necklaces:

Fetheray.com

But the Mona Lisa of food waste is a little boat hewn from an olive pit in 1737 by legendary nutter Ch'en Tsu-chang:

Ch'en Tsu-chang/National Palace MuseumIt's a masterpiece small enough to fit in your nose (not that you should take that as a challenge).

He was inspired by "Latter Ode On The Red Cliff," a poem by Su Tung-p'o, which describes a moonlit boat ride with friends. Ch'en not only carved the boat itself, but also placed the poet inside it, along with his seven homies, chairs, dishes, and windows on tiny hinges. He also engraved 300 characters from the poem onto the boat's hull. Pit carvings remain popular today thanks to nutsmiths like Liu Jun, who studied the sculpting disciplines for eight years before cracking the Bigs.

Liu Jun/VCG"Bigs" being something of a relative term here.

Hines has spent the past 15 years mastering MS Paint, much of that time while working an overnight reception job at a Boston hospital on a primitive Windows computer. Since he's a normal human and didn't enjoy Minesweeper or Solitaire, he spent much of that time messing around with Paint, proving that you can get good at anything if you spend enough time doing it.

Pat HinesWhich was apparently a lot quicker than our best guess on how long it would take to get good at Paint (which, incidentally, is "forever").

Each image requires several weeks of delicate mouse-work, because Hines doesn't rely on crutches like a tablet or a pen. He does use the line tool from an older version of Paint, but even Michelangelo used a ruler every now and then.

Pat HinesThough at that rate, pieces like this probably feel like they take about four score and seven years to complete.

Hines more recently put his Paint skills to use. He spent two years writing and illustrating Camp Redblood, a comedic '80s-style adventure about rowdy teenage summer campers fending off supernatural beasts while still taking time to prank their rivals.

Pat HinesSomehow "This was done in Paint! Motherfucking PAINT" doesn't appear on the cover, or for that matter, every page.

Wow. We can't wait to see what Hines will do when he discovers clip art.

Greenhand -- which is, incredibly, not his real name -- charges $50 per hour for his services, but he's no capitalist pig. He'll also roll you a doob in exchange for some bacon or blueberries, both of which might be slang terms that we just don't get. He used to create his art purely for the love of the game, but thanks to his newfound social media fame, he's currently taking commissions from celebrities ranging from Snoop Dogg to B.o.B. OK yes, his clientele is somewhat limited.

Tony GreenhandOf course, Snoop has something of a history of supporting artisans.

But make no mistake, the man is a serious artist. He's even journeyed all the way to the Dominican Republic and Cuba to study master cigar rollers. He also rolls for the good of humankind. This 12-gram Spider-Man joint sold for $1,100 at a charity auction:

Tony GreenhandSo there you go, every stoned high-schooler: Your picture of Spider-Man holding a joint may have value after all.

And of course, he rolls for prestige, like when he did the world's largest joint, a watermelon filled with 4.20 pounds (get it?) of cannabis that could be inhaled with a hose:

Tony GreenhandHopefully it was the seedless variety.

This seems like a good time to bring up the fact that thousands of black men are still incarcerated on marijuana charges in disproportionate numbers. Just something to think about while you giggle at these photos, maybe.

Tony Greenhand

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