Blue Bottle

Michael Fitts 2009
Blue Bottle
oil on scape metal


I began painting on scrap metal in 1992. Why scrap metal? After I graduated from art school, I began looking for alternative surfaces to paint on—partly for the experimental aspect but mostly because I didn’t have money to spend on canvas. I noticed a neighbor was throwing out a piece of old sheet tin with his trash. I retrieved it and have been painting on scrap tin, copper and aluminum ever since.

What I found appealing from the onset was the sheer variety of surface tones and textures that I come across in my search for metal. For me, surfaces are very important, more important than the subjects painted on them. Of particular interest are scrap pieces that have markings or distressed paint or dents and
scratches that were produced long before I discovered the piece.

Collaboration with those past forces, elements and people keeps the process evolving and interesting. I also enjoy the thought of retrieving materials from the trash heap and breathing new life back into them through my paintings.

The subjects I paint in oils are drawn from the most generic of popular culture visuals, with an emphasis on objects that are used once, then discarded and quickly forgotten. The unexpectedness of elevating the importance of ephemeral objects to the status of art is what I find most interesting.

From discovering a piece of interesting metal to constructing wooden frames to “wrap” it, to selecting the subject to be painted on its surface, the evolution of a piece provides many creative rewards and challenges of which I feel I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.




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