These Portraits of Celebs Born in October Will Make You Look Twice
You may not be familiar with collage artist and illustrator Hanoch Piven, but you may have seen his work — the Israeli artist has done found-object portraits, most of them of celebrities and political figures, for Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and others. He has also authored books featuring his artwork, including "What Presidents are made of" and "My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks," which is made from anything ranging from light bulbs to toilet seats. Read on to see Piven's creative portraits of celebrities and famous figures with birthdays in October, including former President Jimmy Carter, who is turning 97 at the beginning of the month.
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
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39th President of the United States
Born Oct. 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia
"Creating President Carter for my 2004 book 'What Presidents Are Made Of' was a wonderful opportunity to use my miniature set of construction tools, celebrating Carter's inspiring longtime association with Habitat for Humanity," says Piven.
Materials used: Peanuts, cotton, jeans, bandana, construction materials, toy lather, meter, tools
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Lawyer and Activist
Born Oct. 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India
"Sometimes all you need to create a good image is a good idea," says Piven. "The idea to create Gandhi out of dal lentils seemed so proper and proof is that the process of creation was in itself an exercise in patience, slowly uniting the individual lentils into a simple icon."
Materials used: Dal, wire
Soccer Player
Born Oct. 3, 1981 in Malmö, Sweden
"Very few players have the physical power of authority that Zlatan has on the field. His huge, erected neck stands out and becomes a symbol of his peacock-like pride complemented by the colors of the many teams he has played for," says Piven.
Materials used: Swedish flags, cannon, many soccer teams logos, colors fan
Actress
Born Oct. 4, 1946 in New York City
"After 50 years of looking at faces, you learn to quickly notice slight peculiar individualities in the celebrities you are drawing. The distance between the eyes in Susan Sarandon's face is such a defining feature, and that helped me distill her likeness," says Piven.
Materials used: Rosie the Riveter artwork, leaf, film stripes, eyeballs
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Musician and Political Activist
Born Oct. 5, 1951 in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
"This is an old piece that was published in The London Times and only a low-resolution image has survived after some storage CDs were destroyed. My main goal was to find a way to include a rat in Geldof's face," Piven says of the Boomtown Rats singer.
Materials used: Toy toilet, rat
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
Former President of Syria
Born Oct. 6, 1930 in Qardaha, Syria
"Sometimes wandering around I just stumble upon the perfect object. Such was the case with the Assad nose. I said to myself, 'No idea what this object is, but I am sure Assad had one of those,'" says Piven.
Materials used: Wire, watch stripe, unidentified iron tool
President of Russia
Born Oct. 7, 1952 in Leningrad, Russia
"How do you show abuse of power and violence?" Piven asks. "I thought one way to do it was actually to destroy part of the art with an iron fist-hand. This is, by the way, the hand of the photographer's wife, who, for the sake of authenticity, happened to be Russian."
Materials used: Fist, chess pieces, Matryoshka dolls, baton
Civil Rights Activist and Politician
Born Oct. 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina
"This is a good example to explain the idea of 'drawing with objects,'" says Piven. "Likeness is achieved by moving the objects around the painted surface. A different placement of the two radio knobs would not have communicated his likeness. Jackson, of course, has a huge gap between his eyes."
Materials used: Speaker, knobs
Musician
Born Oct. 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England
"The round glasses have, over the years, become an icon that in itself represents Lennon, and you don't need much more to achieve his likeness. The white dove who lost its wings became a metaphor for his tragic destiny. It's worth mentioning that these are old glasses of mine."
Materials used: White dove, white feathers, round glasses
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NASCAR Driver
Born Oct. 10, 1974 in Kannapolis, North Carolina
"Discovering that the steering wheel of a Chevrolet can function well as Dale's eyes was a wonderful discovery. This is a recent commission from United Airlines' Hemispheres magazine, where I illustrate a monthly column," says Piven.
Materials used: Steering wheel, toy tools, toy NASCAR track, mike, Chevrolet logo
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
Musician
Born Oct. 11, 1946 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania
"As an image maker, you try to find the visual icon that will rapidly communicate," says Piven. "Daryl Hall, being a 'standard good-looking blond dude,' needs his partner, John Oates, in order to be instantly recognized. Being handsome is not an advantage in the caricature world."
Materials used: Fur, candy
Opera Singer
Born Oct. 12, 1935 in Modena, Italy
"There were a couple of times in my career where I used a full-blown balloon to create a head, and this was one of them," says Piven. "The opening of the balloon is Pavarotti's mouth. This appeared as part of a portrait of the Three Tenors."
Materials used: Inflated balloon
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Born Oct. 13, 1925 in Grantham, England
"Hard to believe that I was never commissioned to create a portrait of Thatcher," says Piven. "This recent digital image started from discovering these brass knuckles, which immediately suggested Maggie's (bad) teeth and protruding upper lip."
Materials used: U.K. Flags, Big Ben, umbrellas, brass knuckles, pearls
Actor
Born Oct. 14, 1927 in London
"A gun, a Champagne cup, a rose, and a kiss — you know who that one is," says Piven. "For me, Bond is either [Sean] Connery or [Roger] Moore. I'm still having a hard time identifying the different actors who played 007 after Roger Moore."
Materials used: Champagne, bullets, globes, rose
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Former Prime Minister of Israel
Born Oct. 15, 1894 in Kherson, Russia
"For my Israeli children's book 'What Prime Ministers are Made of,' I researched the life of the PMs and discovered that as a child, Sharett lived for two years in an Arab village in Palestine, befriending Arab kids and became fluent in Arabic," Piven says. "Hard to imagine it nowadays in Israel/Palestine."
Materials used: Toy piano, Arabic magnetic letters, toy donkey, other Middle Eastern souvenirs
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
Actress
Born Oct. 16, 1925 in London
"It is notable that Lansbury won six Golden Globe Awards, five Tony Awards, and was nominated three times for an Oscar, yet most of us remember her as the amateur detective from "Murder She Wrote," which ran for 12 seasons from 1984 until 1996, and was one of the longest-running detective series in television history," says Piven. "Incidentally, she never won an Emmy Award, although she was nominated 18 times!"
Materials used: Magnifying lens, finger prints, wool
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Rapper
Born Oct. 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri
"This was the first time I used a miniature toilet seat for a mouth. It seemed appropriate at the height of Eminem's fame as one to perform explicit lyrics," Piven says. "However, being unhappy with the result, just before sending the final file to Entertainment Weekly, I replaced the top of the toilet with a picture of the toilet seat at the photographer's studio. By the way, you might notice a face there in the toilet."
Materials used: M&Ms, Nike symbols, toilet
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Tennis Champion
Born Oct. 18, 1956 in Prague
"This image was created for my book 'What Athletes are Made Of,' which, unlike 'What Presidents Are Made Of,' was a commercial failure," says Piven. "As the book editor commented, "A book about sports might be an oxymoron." The liberty crown is very prominent there as Martina, besides being a great tennis champion, epitomises what individual freedom is all about."
Materials used: Lady Liberty crown, USA pin labels, toy tennis racket, wrecked tennis ball
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Actor
Born Oct. 19, 1945 in Rochester, New York
"This image was created for the monthly column that I illustrate for United's Hemispheres magazine. I tried to include references to various roles he has played during his long career," says Piven. "You might see references there to Churchill, '3rd Rock From the Sun,' and to a couple of murderers."
Materials used: Theater curtain, cigar, planets and stars, walking eyeballs, toy knife and sickle, Harvard symbol, toy maracas, and more
Musician
Born Oct. 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Florida
"This image of Tom Petty ran in The New Yorker in 1993," says Piven. "After he saw it there in print, I was contacted by his office to purchase the original and, sadly, it never materialized. Eventually the piece was donated to an auction, but if there is a guy I wished would have had an art piece of mine hanging in his den, that'd be Tom Petty."
Materials used: Bandana, straw
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Prime Minister of Israel
Born Oct. 21, 1952 in Tel Aviv, Israel
"I have created, over the years, multiple images of Netanyahu," says Piven. "This specific one was published a couple of years ago and accompanied a psychological analysis of his personality. His deep fears, sense of constant persecution, delusions of royal grandeur, dependance on TV performance, and a blond wife, are all there. The broom nose is (for the connoisseurs of my work) a reference to this image of Netanyahu's wife, Sara."
Materials used: Ghosts, barbed wire, king cards, broom, cigar, TV control, Nixon election button
Actor
Born Oct. 22, 1952 in West Homestead, Pennsylvania
"This image was also created for the monthly Q&A column that I illustrate for United's Hemispheres magazine," says Piven. "Over the years, it has become more difficult for me to create minimalistic caricatures. My editors in magazines usually demand many references to more themes. This portrait of Jeff Goldblum was as minimal as I manage to get these days. I love that it is all about dinosaurs and glasses with a couple of flies thrown in."
Materials used: Heavy frame plastic glasses, toy dinosaurs, toy flies
Television Host
Born Oct. 23, 1925 in Corning, Iowa
"This piece was created in the early '90s to appear as a tiny spot in New York magazine," says Piven. "It was to be so little that pretty much any object used would have been hard to perceive. I thought that the iconic image of Carson we all knew was of him in front of a curtain giving his opening monologue and thus the velvety curtain was the only object I used."
Materials used: Curtain
Soccer Player
Born Oct. 24, 1985 in Croxteth, England
"Before the 2006 soccer World Cup, I created a series of images of international players for the Israeli daily Haaretz," says Piven. "Rooney was the precocious young megastar of the England team, still carrying his share of sophomoric behaviors. Sadly, he was injured before the Cup and although recovered in time for the games, his performance in that year was unmemorable."
Materials used: Pen, boxing glove, plastic locomotive, unground pepper, British Bulldog sticker
Former Prime Minister of Israel
Born Oct. 25, 1895 in Oratov, Russia
"This image was created for my book 'What Prime Ministers Are Made Of,' says Piven. "Eshkol was responsible for many of Israel's infrastructures, most notably the National Water Carrier. For those not familiar with Israeli history, Eshkol was the Israeli prime minister during the Six Days War and it is believed that contrary to his dovish character he was pushed to a more hawkish approach by the Israel army generals, thus leading to the Israeli pre-emptive attack."
Materials used: Pen, stones, branches, building blocks, notebook, shoehorn, faucet, and more
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
Former U.S. Secretary of State
Born Oct. 26, 1947 in Chicago
"I have made multiple images of Hillary, but this is the one I love the most because of the innocence it carries," says Piven. "It was created in 1993 as Hillary was in charge of creating the Clinton Health Care Reform. As we all know, things didn't go well for her there nor for the Clinton Health Plan in general. It was also the first time I was published in Time, so my excitement towards this piece was beyond control. Innocent times indeed."
Materials used: Pills
26th President of the United States
Born Oct. 27, 1858 in New York City
"This image was created for my 2004 book 'What Presidents Are Made Of,' says Piven. "For each president in the book, we distilled a defining feature. For Roosevelt it was 'endless energy!' He studied judo, rode horses, rowed boats, played tennis, climbed mountains, hunted in Africa, and had pillow fights with his children in the White House."
Materials used: Chattering teeth, gears, a spring, glasses, and more
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Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist
Born Oct. 28, 1955 in Seattle
"This early image of Gates was created when Windows 96 was launched. The days when the button 'Start' was first introduced to the music of Rolling Stones' 'Start Me Up,'" says Piven. "My great excitement then was discovering that inside light bulbs you can see 'eyes,' so my challenge was to find the right ones and photograph them in a way so that everyone would see that too."
Materials used: Light bulbs, power button
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Actress
Born Oct. 29, 1972 in Los Angeles
"[This is] another image that was created for United's Hemispheres Magazine," says Piven. "Hard not to fall in love with Tracee after researching her for this task. The lady radiates optimism, kindness, humour, wisdom, and beauty!"
Materials used: Flowers, horns, film stripes, hair clips, shells
Soccer Player
Born Oct. 30, 1960 in Buenos Aires
"This image of Maradona was created for my book 'What Athletes Are Made Of' and it, of course, refers to the infamous 1986 World Cup hand of God goal, which in my eyes is, tricking aside, one of the greatest acts of instant-creative-adaptation ever watched live by millions," says Piven. "Guy jumps to for a header. Guy realizes he is way too short. Guy uses his hand instead. I use it as an example in my talks about creativity as a symbol of resourcefulness."
Materials used: Argentinian flag, hand, Boleadoras rope, Che Guevara pin
For more art by Hanoch Piven visit www.pivenworld.com.
Journalist
Born Oct. 31, 1931 in Wharton, Texas
"This was my first collaboration for the monthly column that I illustrate for United's Hemispheres magazine, and the angle for the article was his successful and popular presence on Facebook," says Piven. "Another good use of the CBS eye as … eyes. My dear wife Janet made the miniature anchor for his mouth."
Materials used: CBS logo, anchor, microphones, toy Greek column
