'My Back Pages (Second Iteration)', 2008, vinyl LP records turntable wire; site specific instillation, Museum of art and Design NY, Private collection.

Paul Villinski is an artist that I have only recently become aware of but I am in awe of his work and find it hugely inspirational. Based in New York he seems to be best known for his sculptural instillations made from re-purposed discarded materials such as aluminium cans or vinyl records. His works are almost poetic and his use of space is meticulously planned and executed (like all great sculptors).

His work is a world of lights, shadows and flying machines. Delicate hand cut butterfly's made from discarded aluminium cans or vinyl records gather in perfectly planned clusters and swirls. Discarded gloves are collected and obsessively stitched together to form new communities of lost hands in the shapes of coats and wings. Twinkling lights, cut up cans and a slight breeze create a breathing, fluttering wall in a dark gallery. It's all very tactile and tantalising, I hope to experience his work in the flesh some day soon.

'Fable' 2011, Cello Aluminium (found cans) soot wire, 95" x 65" x 16"

Rendezvous (detail), 2009, aluminium, wire, soot, site specific instillation, private collection, Hilversum Neatherlands

I am drawn to humble, yet evocative materials; in this case, crushed beer cans from the streets of New York - every one of them once raised to someone’s lips. My process of “recycling” them into images of butterflies is a quiet physical meditation, a yoga of tin snips and files and fingers.

Paul Villinski

'Wander' 2009, aluminium (found cans) wire lead flashe, site-specific instillation, collection FBS / Gulf states Toyota, Heuston, TX.

"Simple magic:” a kind of very modest alchemy. Start with humble, cast off materials, in this case a few dozen flattened, littered beer cans from the streets, wire from Canal Street Surplus, tiny bulbs from Radio Shack. Get out the scissors, files, and soldering iron. You're thinking: “the whole greater than the sum of the parts.... Make the things you are making nearly dissappear; all you want is their shadows. Not vine charcoal, not gouache, shadow.” Open a window and a little surprise arrives: a breeze brings a shadow to life; now search for the center of gravity and build-in the possibility of motion...add a small fan and the walls turn animate: at the month’s end a gently fluttering shadow garden of nocturnal flora and fauna.

- Paul Villinski

'Sanctuary' (Instillation at Islip Art museum, Islip NY), 1999, Aluminium (found beer cans) , wire, 12 volt bulbs and electrical components, fans, kinetic, site specific instillations.

To see more of Villinski's work visit his website