CANLOVE Upcycles Cast Off Spray Cans Into Gorgeous Sculptures and Paintings

<a href="http://inhabitat.com/reverse-graffiti/" target="_blank">Graffiti artists</a> are notorious for spray painting their pieces on walls and buildings around town, but one group is making art by recycling the remnants of these vandals. The artist collective <a href="http://canlove.org/" target="_blank">CANLOVE</a> doesn’t just leave their art on the streets, but takes it one step further by upcycling their <a href="http://inhabitat.com/artist-aurora-robson-explains-how-she-transforms-discarded-plastic-into-beautiful-pieces-of-art-in-new-film/" target="_blank">cast off spray cans</a> and remnant paint into gorgeous sculptures and multimedia pieces. Believing that each element of the spray can should be put to use, their creative pieces can be enjoyed on the streets, and inside the gallery.

Dedicated to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/anna-garforths-phenomenal-green-graffiti-art-is-made-out-of-moss/" target="_blank">graffiti art in all its forms</a>, each member of CANLOVE believes in a cradle to grave model for their art.

Disused spray cans litter the streets around prime street art areas, some still filled with their toxic gases, giving the art of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/become-a-reverse-graffiti-writer-with-the-grime-writer-pen/" target="_blank">graffiti</a> a bad name.

Frustrated with unnecessary trash on their streets, CANLOVE set off on a mission to collect all the cast off cans and clean up their streets.

Once in the studio, each can is transformed into an element for a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/david-ellis-transforms-piles-of-trash-into-moving-musical-sculptures/" target="_blank">sculpture</a> or wall hanging work of art.

Giving the can a new life (and setting its “soul free”), each is sliced and spliced to be transformed into new forms. Spray can flowers are made by cutting the cans open into petals and using the left over paint to color each bloom. Nozzles are removed and grouped together to resemble bunches of orchids and other bulbous flowers.

The cans are also cut open and flattened into rectangles, their contents exposed to show their glorious hues. Together they make a patchwork of colors, transforming the pieces once used for urban tagging into minimalist pieces of art.