Come Inside And See His Etchings

Marshall McLuhan defined art by saying “Art is anything you can get away with.”

In that fine tradition, meet 28-year-old George Vlosich III (whose name really should be George Vlosich !!!). George creates finely-detailed pop culture and sports star portraits using an Etch-A-Sketch as his brush, his palate and his canvas.

Anybody who has ever twiddled with Etch-A-Sketch’s two single-directional dials knows how hard it is to draw a decent curve or diagonal, which makes George’s precision output all that more impressive…and brings a whole new level of respect to a classic, iconic toy. Putting together a standard work (as if anything he does can be labeled “standard”) takes George about 60 hours, and who knows how many finger twitches. Check out the process in this YouTube clip.

The results are awe-inspiring, and since they are etched on aluminum-powdered glass, Surprisingly permanent in nature (he removes the excess powder to avoid very costly slips).  And don’t think for a second that this ain’t taken seriously; George’s limited edition prints go for upwards of $2,000, while his originals start at $7,500. (Moms, don’t throw out those Lite-Brites or Mr. Potato Heads just yet…)

Not only is he talented, but George is also extremely generous and warm-hearted, donating his pieces for charity auctions all over the country. Now if I can only figure out how to establish Pow! as a charity…

It’s offbeat and counter-intuitive, but so was Jackson Pollack. Enjoy George’s work at his Etched In Time site today…and in museums sometime soon.