Gallery
The CEO
Materials: Eyes: cat food Tie: grinding drum T-shirt buttons: caps of oil can Pockets: old pallet frame and used screws Shoulder medals: anchovies can and automobile engine oil cap Body: imported used pallet. Description: The CEO represents the hard working business man that gives everything to his job and basically that’s what he is made of ( his company products).
Frida
Materials: Various plastic bottlecaps Face: plastic oil bottles Description: Frida Kahlo’s love of bold colours in her self portraits are a fitting subject for a Meedo Redo. Bottlecaps of various sizes in a dazzling rainbow of colours, all sourced from KAUST Waste Management, reimagine Kahlo’s work with a joyous Pop Art twist.
David
Materials: Face: upcycled nails from imported pallets Hair: wire Description: Michelangelo’s famous sculpture is given a Meedo-Redo treatment. Recycled nails collected from dismantled pallets and old wire are delicately used to create the profile of the determined young boy about to take down Goliath with his slingshot. Like David, we all have the ability to face up to seemingly insurmountable odds, like the climate crisis, and win.
The Butterfly
Materials: Butterfly: recycled bolts, wire Backdrop: imported used pallets Description: A part of Meedo’s “Menagerie” series. Each animal in the menagerie is constructed using a different technique. Thus, the menagerie is not just a collection of animals, but also a catalog of different ways Meedo uses his primary recycled media of wood and metal to create his art. Here, the delicate wings of the butterfly are created by winding wire around recycled bolts. Meedo captures the butterfly’s fragility in his play between the lightness of the wire and the gravity of the anchoring hardware.
The Fish
Materials: Imported used pallets Description: A part of Meedo’s “Menagerie” series. Each animal in the menagerie is constructed using a different technique. Thus, the menagerie is not just a collection of animals, but also a catalog of different ways Meedo uses his primary recycled media of wood and metal to create his art. Here, reclaimed pallet slats are arranged on a flat plane to mimic the flat fish that can be found under the waves of the Red Sea.
Glendizer
Materials: Figure: Various plastic motor oil bottles Backdrop: imported used pallets Description: If you grew up in the Middle East, then you will undoubtedly be familiar with Glendizer - the beloved intergalactic space robot that escaped a planet destroyed by pollution and defends Earth from toxic invaders. Glendizer was one of the most popular television programs during its original airing in the 70s and over constant reruns ever since. Reimagined here with up-cycled car oil bottles as the robot’s armour, the anime’s deeper messages of environmental sustainability and tolerance are highlighted.
The Meedolisa
Materials: Various plastic motor oil bottles Description: The ultimate up-cycling statement, taking discarded plastic oil bottles and recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa using only this material. The Meedolisa shows that anything considered to be “waste” can become beautiful art when seen through the lens of up-cycling.
Icarus
Materials: Various plastic motor oil bottles Description: Taken from one of the prints from Henri Matisse’s art book “Jazz,” Icarus captures the moment when the boy from Greek mythology flew too close to the sun and melted the wings made from wax that his father had made for him, falling back down to earth. A metaphor for today’s overconsumption, where the things that have aided in the unchecked rapid growth of human society (industrialization, mass production, globalization of markets) may play a part in the downfall of our environment.
Heart Work
Materials: Various plastic motor oil bottles Description: In Meedo’s interpretation of Keith Haring’s 1988 “Untitled” work, plastic oil bottles pop from the canvas like children’s crayons, echoing the simplicity of Haring’s design. The message is equally powerful in its simplicity: we can accomplish great things when we work together and come from a place of love - for ourselves, for others, and for our planet.
Girl with Pearl
Materials: Various plastic motor oil bottles Metal oil can lid Description: Meedo Redoes the Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer’s famous painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is broken down into planes of colour that recall the Dutch Master’s iconic composition while adapting the image to Meedo’s plastic oil bottle medium. The result is a work that creates an “Aha” moment when the viewer finally recognizes the original painting in Meedo’s abstracted interpretation.
The Blame
Materials: Figures: used motor oil cans (front and back) Backdrop: imported used pallets Description: Two figures facing each other in profile. Both raising fingers to assign blame. How did we get here? Who is to blame? Who is right and who is wrong? So often the current environmental crisis is framed using such concepts. However, the two figures in this work are identical in shape and gesture. In fact, one is the exact reverse of the other, created by using opposite sides of the same motor oil cans. By casting the two sides of an argument as mirror images, Meedo wants viewers to consider the possibility that both sides are equally to blame, and that the stalemate of continuously placing blame prevents both sides from moving forward together with shared solutions.
The Elephant
Materials: Upcycled cans Backdrop: Imported used pallets Description: A part of Meedo’s “Menagerie” series. Each animal in the menagerie is constructed using a different technique. Thus, the menagerie is not just a collection of animals, but also a catalog of different ways Meedo uses his primary recycled media of wood and metal to create his art. Here, the noble elephant is created out of individual pieces of pallet wood that have been laminated with used motor oil cans and arranged like pieces of a puzzle, while the trunk gets its distinctive wrinkles from garbanzo bean cans. The piece was then left outside to develop a leather-like patina.
The Scream
Materials: Various plastic motor oil bottles Description: The bold expressionist colours of Evard Munch’s masterpiece “the Scream” lend themselves perfectly to a Meedo Redo. The bright plastic oil bottles cover the entire canvas, the rhythm of their directional patterning transforming them from “waste” into “paint.” Munch’s original work encapsulated the existential horror and alienation produced from early 20th century industrialization. Today, that scream continues, now reflecting the horror, also, of how our continued consumption is affecting the planet.
The Bosses
Materials: Heads: brown paper bags Suits: various paper shopping bags Backdrop: imported used pallets Description: In a world that encourages consumption and self-segregation into modern tribes based on loyalty to big brands, the “bosses” in this art series each wear a different “suit” made from the paper bags of various recognizable brands. Each “boss” bears a different animal head, characterizing a different business leadership style. It is up to the viewer to decide which boss they identify with most, and which work style they need to channel for the day, from the commanding bulldog to the inquisitive lemur.
Meedo Lap-Slap Box
Materials: Box: Plywood Drum snare: can lids Description: For the drummer who follows his own beat. As a talented drummer in his own right, Meedo became fascinated with the sound of the cajon drum from South America and wanted to create his own cajons to make this hard-to-find instrument more accessible. The Meedo Lap-Slap Box is available in a variety of sizes or can be custom ordered to exact specifications.
Live Life by the Second
Materials: Imported used pallets Ink Description: Life is only seconds. No matter what our future or our past hold, we only exist now, from second to second. Be humble and make each second count.
Feather Chair
Materials: Imported used pallets Description: A part of the Feather Furniture series. All Feather pieces feature pointed legs that make the reclaimed pallet wood appear to be floating, light as a feather. The design of this chair took time to get the angle of the backrest just right. Deceptively small, this low to the ground chair is incredibly comfortable and can accommodate a variety of sizes.
The Feather Table
Materials: Imported used pallets Motor oil cans Description: A part of the Feather Furniture series. All Feather pieces feature pointed legs that make the reclaimed pallet wood appear to be floating, light as a feather. Meedo always works with the dimensions of a pallet, to create as little waste as possible when crafting his furniture pieces. The cutaway elements of the table’s apron and legs are, in fact, a feature of the original pallet that Meedo has incorporated for its decorative appeal. A strip of motor oil cans laminated across the centre of the tabletop boldly declare the table’s provenance as a thoroughly up-cycled piece while also adding a touch of industrial style to the design.
The Dragonfly
Materials: Dragonfly: recycled bolts, wire Backdrop: used car radiator Description: A part of Meedo’s “Menagerie” series. Each animal in the menagerie is constructed using a different technique. Thus, the menagerie is not just a collection of animals, but also a catalog of different ways Meedo uses his primary recycled media of wood and metal to create his art. Here, Meedo decided to use the old radiator from his own truck as the backdrop for this work of art. Meedo wanted to choose a subject that would appear to be flattened against the windscreen of a moving car. And so the dragonfly was born, created out of recycled nails and wire.
Finn The Lion
Materials: Eyes: cat food tins Nose: metal washer and bolt Mouth: metal latch Earring: oil can lid and handle Face and Mane: imported used pallets Description: The lion is the king, the apex, top of the food chain. This lion, however, is a little quirkier, just like the housecat who inspired him. Meedo takes the distinctive features of his own pet cat and gives them a monumental treatment, revealing the little lion in the heart of a loyal pet.
Be the Light to Whom You Love
Materials: Imported used pallet risers Paper Ink Description: Words to live by. Printed in Arabic across four separate blocks, this piece is also a reminder that love is series of building blocks, built up day by day, through our words and actions. Originally installed over the Artist's Front Door, as a reminder to all who enter and all who leave, to always "Be the Light to Whom you Love."
The Familia
Materials: Faces: food cans Features: recycled screws and bolts Hair: coated wire clothes hangers Description: The Familia is a playful reference to the works of Philippe Starck, the French designer Meedo worked with during his early years in Los Angeles. Meedo follows Starck’s aesthetic of taking everyday items and turning them into whimsical, anthropomorphic fixtures that infuse a childlike sense of “wonder” and “play” back into our busy lives. The result is both a sculpture and a functional key holder that waits by the door and welcomes you home each day.