Lifestyle & Parenting

Ghost of a Dream: The Art Project that Recycles Hope

October 24, 2017

The collaboration between sculptor Lauren Was and painter Adam Eckstrom is one of the most refreshing art projects of the past decade. In a world of food waste, animal cruelty and human exploitation, these two artists have decided to offer us a different perspective on life, but most importantly, on hope.

portrait of a dream

Their project is called "Ghost of a Dream" and it has a very simple principle: recycling hope. This amazing artistic duo has produced an impressive collection of sculptures made from tokens of lost hope. These tokens are lottery tickets thrown away by the people who have bought them thinking that these would change their lives.

Eckstrom told the press about how they started picking up lottery tickets that were thrown away " thinking they were someone’s lost wish". But the more they thought about these dreams that people had tossed along with their tickets, the more they got fascinated about their significance and the artistic potential these had.

"We started thinking about what those dreams actually meant and what happens if you collected enough of those to make that dream into a reality,” he said. In their aim to create an accurate representation of the dreams that people have for the lottery, the two artists looked into what real lottery winners actually do with their money.

After having a careful look at the statistics, the two artists decided to make a life-size representation of the most popular purchases among lottery winners. When they play the lottery, people have big dreams for their winnings, but it looks like the single most popular ones are taking a luxury vacation, getting that dream house, and getting to drive the car that they’ve been reading about for years.

So, this is exactly what Eckstrom and Was made: a life-sized vacation scene, a car and a house. The first project was the car, which was a gorgeous Hummer H3 made entirely from recycled lottery tickets. The car was made in great detail and it turned out to be a grand success in the art world.

portrait of a dream

The following Ghost of a Dream project was a lavish representation of a dining room. This was meant to symbolize the dream house and the attention to detail is absolutely spectacular. Was and Eckstrom have certainly managed to outdo themselves with this one it turned out to be a stellar success.

The final element of the lotto dream trilogy was the exotic palm tree installment, which came complete with a stereo and a beach umbrella. This excellent symbol of the ideal vacation was entirely made from lottery tickets of various colors and it was first presented in New York.

Ghost of a Dream went on even after having completed their lottery fortune trilogy. They went on to work with other interesting materials, such as romance novels, and they have expanded their dream projects tremendously. Their latest works are focused on the adrenaline rush that comes with reading good-quality romance novels and gambling. Their unique portrayal of the beauty of life remains one of the most applauded art projects in recent history.

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