Dark Mofo 2019: Junkyard artist Lonnie Holley creates masterpieces out of Hobart trash

An American junkyard artist and musician is taking Hobart’s trash and turning it into masterpieces at part of Dark Mofo.

AMERICAN junkyard artist and musician Lonnie Holley is literally using Hobart’s trash to create masterpieces that will live on at DarkLab’s newest project.

Mr Holley has been commissioned to make sculptural artworks for the green room at Altar, in the former Tattersalls Hotel, that celebrate the detritus of Hobart’s urban environment.

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The Alabama-born artist has three different projects on the go at the moment.

Some of the materials he has collected during his short time in Hobart, which he plans to transform into stunning sculptures, include a stone he found on the ground at Mona, a piece of debris he collected from a River Derwent beach and a collection of old taps, pipes, wires and bricks he found at the tip.

American artist Lonnie Holley is in Hobart for Dark Mofo to perform music and in his spare time will be conducting a series of workshops on making art from stuff that people would think of as junk or garbage. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“My thing as far as being an artist is working with materials that other people mostly throw away,” Mr Holley said.

“I’m just taking ordinary materials and I try to show man his habits and how he’s moving to the technological manner.

“We found all this stuff at the tip and then I thought about how we as humans have to repurpose all of this.”

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Mr Holley said Dark Mofo was a great opportunity to play music and visit a fantastic part of the world. He will be a resident artist at the Altar and yesterday invited people to join him for his art walk around town to gather materials.

He will perform at the Altar from 10-11pm tomorrow.

More information: darkmofo.net.au/program/altar/lonnie-holley