Art by Dwight
I am the daughter of Dwight Pritchett, the Pittsburgh based artist and blog author of Art by Dwight. Dwight does a very unique style of art that involves doing a lift, or a rubbing, of a manhole onto canvas. After doing the lift he then takes it into his studio to create the finished piece. As a photographer I couldn’t help going with him a couple times and documenting his work.
The process is almost a kind of street performance where out of the crowd Dwight arrives on the scene with his canvas and crayons in hand and begins to dust off the manhole of choice. After the manhole is somewhat clean he lays down his canvas and starts this creative process. During the time in which he is working, people passing by stop with a puzzled look slowly discovering what the image is that magically appears on the canvas. The idea of making art out of rubbings is not new, but the idea of using manholes to do it most definitely is.
You can see his portfolio of finished pieces on the blog and follow his latest adventures of revealing this new idea to the world. You can also purchase an original piece by contacting him directly. He is currently based in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania but soon plans to expand the manhole search to different cities in the U.S. as well as Europe. If you happen to be looking down and see a manhole that is unique, snap a pic and send it his way…you may just see it one day in a museum!
