Worn out computer keyboards are generally trashed and recycled to once again become a computer peripheral. But here’s an artist who gets hold of old keyboards to create stunning art murals from its keys.
This artist is Erik Jensen and his passion is using recycled computer keys creatively. What’s more, he is stone deaf! He graduated from Utah Valley University in BS, Art Education in 2017. After trying his hand in various professions, he finally settled for recycled keyboard art.
Jensen explains, “Inspired by the technological world, I use computer keyboard keys to create pixilated artworks, including the process of plastic dyeing to implement colors.” Such is his passion for this form of art that till date he has used a whopping 135,000 computer keyboard keys in his works!
Creating murals from recycled keys is certainly not easy. Jensen takes anywhere between two to three months to complete a work to be displayed in a show. His first step after procuring keyboards is to pop off the keys and wash them clean.
Then begins the coloring process. Jensen has a special recipe to dye the recycled keys that color the body of the key but doesn’t smudge, obliterate or hide the characters. He uses the original colors of the keys, that is, white, black and gray, but uses dyes for obtaining all sorts of other colors with their varying shades, such as beige, yellow, red, green, purple and blue.
