Artist uses canal muck for paintings

NEW YORK, May 15 (UPI) -- A New York artist says he is playing on "man-vs.-nature" theories with paintings he makes from the muck and grime of an industrial canal.

David Eustace said he makes his art by leaving canvases in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal for as long as a month, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

"I see this as a play on the classic man-vs.-nature story. Except in this case, 'nature' happens to be a large industrial canal," he said.

Eustace said canvases look completely different depending on what season they come out of the water and that imperfections such as a stain left behind by little shrimp represent "a conversation between what I know about the canal and the actual experience of it."

The Brooklyn Arts Council gave Eustace a grant to show his pieces at a the BAG Gallery in Brooklyn until May 18, the Post said.