A Rainbow Carpet Made of Sawdust Brings New Meaning to Pop Art

The art partnership of Craig & Karl has routinely constructed expansive and impressive public artworks that roll out across metropolitan cities, from a candy-created street design in Chengdu, China to oversized, inflated script in Berlin. Craig Redman in New York and Karl Maier in London work together remotely to create Pop-inspired installations and visuals.

Weaving bright, child-like patterns together, the artists created a massive spread of color blocks in their latest installation, titled Optimystic. The two describe the significance of the sprawling color design as stemming from a long-time tradition of sawdust carpets—called tapetes de aserrin in Spanish—in Mexico, Central, and South America. The artwork is a modern interpretation of a time-honored practice of covering a street with colored sawdust. Craig & Karl have collaborated on a long list of distinguished projects, showcasing their talents to a wider audience incorporating major brands. Past projects include artwork for Kiehl’s, Turkish Airlines with Manchester United, and a slew of Vogue UK artistic contributions.

Though the Australian duo consider Optimystic a more a personal pursuit. Currently, the enormous dust carpet is on exhibit at Fox International Channels in Guatemala. The project was realized for Showcase ITCH, an annual festival that brings together both local and international artists. A description of Optimystic states, “Traditionally, the carpets are created on city streets as a pathway for ceremonial processions, and Optimystic is Craig & Karl’s [modern] take on this important ritual.”

The artists tell The Creators Project, “The sawdust carpets are expressions of faith and community created in a celebratory atmosphere. In creating one, our aim was to adopt and extend these basic precepts, introducing our viewpoint and taking it somewhere new that felt relevant to our lives, without wholly severing a connection to their traditional role within Guatemalan culture."

"Within our work," they continue, "optimism is a fundamental tenet and ultimately what we endeavor to convey by message or example or both. Vis-à-vis, our carpet is quite simply an expression of faith in optimism. Our creative act is inherently one of optimism; it imagines a better, richer, more enlightened world. With the world in increasing disarray, it seems a timely message—more than ever, a sense of optimism is required."

The exhibition of Optimystic runs until December 2nd at Fox International Channels in Guatemala City. Find more artwork from Craig & Karl on their website, here.

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