AZTECH_Speedracer, 2010, Mixed Media
The good people over at Intercity are working on this nice art-based project with Havana Club to nominate an artist that encapsulates “the spirit of the people of Havana, who pride themselves on their ability to create what they need from what they have.”
This project really resonated with us as we’re pretty big on featuring home made talent, with a penchant for the DIY. Havana Club have so appropriately titled the project ‘Inspired Ingenuity’ in which to showcase the grass roots talents that many individuals not only inherently possess, but feature as the pride of their art.
For our nomination, we instantly thought of the Clare Mitten, who, with the multitude of materials, processes and equipment available to her in London, chooses to neglect the higher-end supplies and focus on crafting her pieces from the lesser valued, cutting room floors scraps, namely; old cardboard files.
Clare’s Aztec series is best described by the curator Ann Elliot, as “a mock world of technological innovation”. Much like the cargo cult activity amongst the Melanesian islanders in the years during and after World War II (who built life-size replicas of air planes out of straw and cut new military-style landing strips out of the jungle hoping to attract more air planes), Mitten
