Patrick Lundeen Transforms Old MAD Magazines Into Creepy Monster Masks

Artist <a href="http://patricklundeen.tumblr.com/">Patrick Lundeen</a> collects discarded rugs, posters and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/carlos-zuniga-creates-amazing-portraits-using-recycled-telephone-books/" target="_blank">MAD magazine pages</a> and transforms them into a cast of spooky masks. Lundeen's larger than life faces combine collaged elements with traditional canvas and paint to conjure up images of monsters, outsider art, and Coney Island freakshows. For those who want to get a close up look at these gnarly found art faces, they will be on display in Chelsea, New York starting June 21st.

Lundeen’s gruesome masks are made up of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/justin-gingras-transforms-nyc-trash-into-art-with-his-garbage-cubes/" target="_blank">random objects</a> that may not be otherwise relatable, the thread holding them together being their <a href="http://inhabitat.com/gary-taxalis-recycles-used-book-covers-with-his-signature-retro-drawings/" target="_blank">discarded nature</a> and the artist’s creativity.

Lundeen’s gruesome masks are made up of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/justin-gingras-transforms-nyc-trash-into-art-with-his-garbage-cubes/" target="_blank">random objects</a> that may not be otherwise relatable, the thread holding them together being their <a href="http://inhabitat.com/gary-taxalis-recycles-used-book-covers-with-his-signature-retro-drawings/" target="_blank">discarded nature</a> and the artist’s creativity.

Six foot tall canvas masks are strung with strings of hair, seemingly from well-loved dolls, creating scraggled Medusa-like manes and stringy beards.

The glossy super colors of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/elsa-mora-carves-simple-sheets-of-paper-into-elaborate-papercut-illustrations/" target="_blank">magazine pages</a> are transformed into wearable monster masks, complete with misshapen teeth, bulbous noses, and gaping mouths, bearing their original lives as the epic MAD Magazine fold-ins. Al Jaffe, the artist of the popular <a href="http://inhabitat.com/artist-will-kurtz-sculpts-lifelike-people-out-of-recycled-newspapers/" target="_blank">counter-culture mag</a>, would appreciate its transformation from literary shocker to tongue-in-cheek quirky fine art.

Even a campy music-note emblazoned blanket is turned into a character, with the plastic ivories of a cheap Casio <a href="http://inhabitat.com/izens-bamboo-keyboard-is-for-eco-conscious-ipad-users/" target="_blank">keyboard</a> standing in for the gritty teeth, hilariously named after 80’s pop artist Rick Astley’s hit, “Together Forever.”

Aside from using reclaimed materials, Lundeen reclaims something else- a slice of childhood. His most recent show, called “Good For You Son,” will open at Chelsea’s <a href="http://www.mikeweissgallery.com/html/home.asp" target="_blank">Mike Weiss Gallery</a>, and also mark the release of a 7 inch vinyl recording of his rock band, The Oblique Mystique.”