Remember those weird things called audio cassette tapes? Sorry to make you feel so old, but the speed of technology keeps impressing us. We went from tapes, to cd’s, to digital, and now heading towards a cloud storage based system. While cassettes’ keep collecting dust in our homes, one artist saw some interesting use in them. One day, going through an old car, Erica Iris ran into an audio cassette of Jimi Hendrix recordings. This enticed her to draw this artist using the cassette tape, and thus her creative idea was born!

Erika Iris Simmons is an internet freelance artist known as iri5. Her specialization is in using non traditional media such as old books, audio cassettes, playing cards, magazines, credit cards, recyclable material, and anything else she can get here hands on. Her creative idea involves creating famous artist from audio tape cassettes. These works of art have spun into a series she calls “Ghost in the Machine.” The series portrays celebrities/musicians such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix,  Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Robert DiNero, Paul Griffith, and more.

“It feels great to work with strange, older materials. Things that have a mind of their own. Most everything I use has been thrown away or donated at some point. Past its prime, like some of the finest things in the world.”  – Erika Iris Simmons

What she managed to create with old cassette tapes and reel tapes is quite innovative. We hope her work will amaze you as much it did us.

Madonna

The Clash

Jimi Hendrix

Paul Griffith

Bob Dylan

Jerry Garcia

Lenny Kravitz

The Beatles

Bob Marley

Bob Dylan

Marilyn Monroe

See the rest of the collection here!