Junk Mail Portraits by Sandhi Schimmel Gold

Unlike the rest of who throw away junk mails into trash can, American artist Sandhi Schimmel Gold has found a use for them. Yes, of course – art. She takes junk mails including greetings cards, tax forms, advertising brochures and other decorative papers and creates incredible mosaic art pieces in much the same way as a collage, except the shape of the pasted pieces are objects themselves. Sandhi sometimes embellish work with paint, ink or other materials.

Sandhi saw a portrait made of tiny fragments of colorful glass in Venice once. It was too heavy to carry by train, so she decided to make one "just like it" when she got home. After trial and error, she decided to use ephemera instead of glass or tile.

“It would be too simple to say I am inspired by Byzantine mosaics, Louis Comfort Tiffany or Antonio Gaudi,” she says. “It's both the assemblage and the color in the materials that moves me. I am process driven as well as image-centric....Figurative work has always inspired me – I tend to focus on the female. My vision is to create beautiful yet thought-provoking images of beauty; in vibrant color.”

You can see more of Sandhi Schimmel Gold’s work on her website.

Also see junk portraits by Jason Mecier and Zac Freeman.