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Creating Art From Meaningless Trash with @elisainsua

To discover more of Elisa’s art, follow @elisainsua on Instagram.

(This interview was conducted in Spanish.)

Elisa Insua (@elisainsua) has a knack for transformation. The 25-year-old Argentinian has reinvented herself — from a business economics student to a visual artist — and she routinely transforms discarded objects. Elisa draws from religious and pop culture references to collage, using everything from plastic toys, beads and computer parts. Other times she covers three-dimensional objects, like, say, a Stormtrooper mask, in gold keys, chains and coins.

“Golden things have always fascinated me because they are closely related to the sacred and to power. Gold is the color that has long been synonymous with money,” says Elisa. “I think it’s the perfect color to reflect on issues such as ostentation and accumulation. I also associate gold and brightness with the aesthetics of American rap, which attracts and inspires me.”

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Extreme Pumpkin Carving with @jon_neill

For more extreme pumpkin-carving exploits, follow @jon_neill on Instagram.

Most people don’t lift weights to prepare to carve a Halloween pumpkin. But for Jon Neill (@jon_neill), daily upper body workouts are required for the 850-pound (385-kilogram) behemoths he sculpts at live audience shows throughout the season. “You need good core strength and endurance in your shoulders because you have your arms out in front of you all day long pulling through material,” he says.

Jon honed his skills in Hollywood, sculpting dinosaurs for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and is now invited to compete at extreme food TV shows and events. Using a customized vegetable peeler and carving tools, Jon pulls his designs through the meaty flesh of the pumpkin, drawing inspiration for the character from the squash’s size and shape. “I like heroic-looking pumpkins, which normal people wouldn’t find unless they get to the farm,” he says. “Then people are like ‘oh my gosh’ when you carve it — it gives it a supernatural extraordinary feel.”