Sparks of sinister imaginings fly in the Burnside garage of Reg Whaley.
Dark dreams are the inspiration for his unique artistic creations, where recycled and found material is turned into twisted sculptural pieces.
After working for other companies, he has now decided to unleash his creativity with his own venture, Reg’s DarkArt.
"I call it dark art because most of my stuff is mainly with skulls and dragons and stuff like that."
From scary mirrors through to skeletons encased in resin, his work often looks like the stuff of nightmares.
Found objects such as driftwood speak to him in unique ways.
"When I look at something I see faces here and there, it is kind of weird but I just do — some people do, some people don’t."
Whaley twists and turns metal and machine parts into new and original shapes, such as sewing machine parts turned into a model steampunk ship and sheet metal transformed into a hovering dragonfly.
"I am always imagining things in my head."
Dreams were fertile ground for new ideas, he said.
"If I get an idea, I usually get out of bed sometimes [at] two or three in the morning and go down and start working on it downstairs."
Whaley will showcase his creations at the South Dunedin Street Festival taking place on April 1.
simon.henderson@thestar.co.nz
