Artist Turns Used Keyboards Into Famous Works of Art

Award-winning deaf artist Erik Jensen quite skillfully removes the keys from used computer keyboards that aren’t able to be recycled and turns them into mosaic replicas of famous works of art.

Each piece uses thousands of keys that are specifically dyed for recreations such as “The Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh, “Mona Lisa” by Leonard da Vinci, and “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer.

Jensen, who become an artist at a very young age, started working with keyboards for a college art project.

Erik started doing art when he was first able to pick up things. His mother was (and still is!) awesome and allowed him to be free in his creativity, even it if meant big messes.. …He started doing art with computer keyboard keys in 2013, started doing it as a business in 2017, and went to being a full-time artist in 2018.

Art Insider met with Jensen in his Utah workshop.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.