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      Social Issues and the Climate Crisis Intertwine in Subversive Crocheted Works by Jo Hamilton

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      Art
      Craft

      #crochet
      #landscapes
      #plastic
      #portraits
      #yarn

      November 15, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “I Crochet Portland” (2006-2009), mixed crocheted yarn, 63 x 114 inches. All images © Jo Hamilton, shared with permission
      From a mix of wool fibers and yarn made from plastic waste, Scottish artist Jo Hamilton crochets large-scale portraits and architectural landscapes delineated with dangling threads. Her knotted pieces push the boundaries of art and craft traditions, bringing the two together in subversive portrayals of powerful women and metropolises marred by production. Unraveling at the edges, the textured works reflect on interlocking issues like unchecked capitalism, social disparities, and the increasingly urgent climate crisis.
      All of the materials Hamilton uses are recycled, whether sourced from estate sales and resalers or created in studio. A few years ago, she started turning grocery bags, videotapes, and other household items into skeins of yarn-like threads—the artist shares some of this process on Instagram—as a way to reduce her impact on the environment, explaining:
      We tend to glorify nature as an eternal and everlasting idea, separate from ourselves and our real-life actions. We’ve held on tightly to these ideas during the last few decades in the throes of late capitalism and globalization, and if we don’t change our thinking, policies and behavior immediately it will be too late. So I channeled my anxieties about over-production, pollution, and climate change into my work, using plastic in some of the works in contrast with the yarn.
      If you’re in Portland, stop by Russo Lee Gallery to see Hamilton’s most recent works as part of her solo show Transitory Trespass, which closes on November 27.

      “Cherry Steel Above and Below” (2017), mixed crocheted yarn, 68 x 122 inches
      “Shinig Mountain Eclipse.” Photo by John Clark
      Left: “Masked Metamorhic.” Right: “Masked Marbled.” Photos by John Clark
      “Death Star PDX” (2018), mixed crocheted yarn, 45 x 52 inches. Photo by John Clark
      “Isaac Montalvo” (2008), mixed yarn, 23 x 22 inches
      “Head & Neck Dietician” (2016), mixed crocheted yarn, 29 x 27 inches
      “Groucho Gia” (2013), mixed crocheted yarn, 51 x 36 inches
      Hamilton with a 2019 outdoor crocheted mural project on SE Foster Road in Portland. Photo by Kevin McConnell
      Hamilton with a 2019 outdoor crocheted mural project on SE Foster Road in Portland. Photo by Kevin McConnell

      #crochet
      #landscapes
      #plastic
      #portraits
      #yarn

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      ‘Fake Food, Real Garbage’: A Satirical Store is Fully Stocked with Groceries Made Entirely of Plastic

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      Art
      Food

      #installation
      #plastic
      #satire
      #stores

      July 7, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Photo by Tony Lewis. All images courtesy of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, shared with permission
      Wander into a new pop-up grocery store in Downtown Los Angeles, and you’ll find all of the typical options with an unusual twist: freezers stocked with tubs of “Bag & Jerry’s,” a robust produce section with bananas and tomatoes printed with advertisements, and mysteriously gray “polluted sausage” stuck to styrofoam trays.
      Dubbed “The Plastic Bag Store,” the witty and satirical installation is the project of Robin Frohardt, who repurposed scores of bottle caps, packaging, and other single-use materials into a full-fledged grocery. Each of the non-edible items—many of which have undergone clever rebrands, meaning you’ll find family-sized boxes of Yucky Shards cereal, cases of Bagorade bottles, and clamshells of Earthbag Farms non-organic spring mix in the aisles—is made entirely with discarded waste that the Brooklyn-based artist, puppet-maker, and designer collected from garbage bins and trash sites.

      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Paired with a performative component that envisions how future generations will interpret the inordinate amount of waste produced in today’s world, the installation literally displays the longevity of the items many of us use on a daily basis. According to recent estimations, the amount of plastic in the ocean is predicted to exceed the volume of fish by 2050, an ongoing crisis Frohardt wants to make more apparent. “’The Plastic Bag Store’ is a visually rich and humorous experience that hopefully encourages a different way of thinking about the foreverness of plastic, the permanence of the disposable and that there is no ‘away’ when we throw something out,” she says.
      The grocery, which debuted in Times Square last fall with the tagline “Fake Food, Real Garbage,” is open at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance through July 11. You can find more of Frohardt’s projects, many of which critique mass consumerism and capitalism through a humorous lens, on her site and Instagram. (via Hyperallergic)

      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Photo by Maria Baranova
      Photo by Tony Lewis
      Photos by Maria Baranova
      Photo by Maria Baranova
      Photo courtesy of Rundle Mall

      #installation
      #plastic
      #satire
      #stores

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      Two Imposing Cubes Covered in Yellow Plastic by Artist Serge Attukwei Clottey Respond to Global Water Insecurity

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      Art

      #climate change
      #colonialism
      #installation
      #plastic
      #water

      March 16, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “The Wishing Well” (2021) in Coachella Valley. All images © Serge Attukwei Clottey, courtesy of Desert X, by Lance Gerber, shared with permission
      A mottled patchwork of plastic cloaks two cubes that tower over the desert landscape of Coachella Valley. Titled “The Wishing Well,” the bright pair are the work of Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, who created the nine-foot pieces from scraps of Kufuor gallons, or jerrycans, in response to shared struggles with water insecurity that ripple across the world. Resembling a yellow brick road, a paved walkway connects the two woven structures that stand in contrast to the surrounding environment, which faces continual struggles with access to the natural resource.
      Clottey’s use of the material is tied to a larger critique of colonialism’s enduring legacy and the ways it continues to affect populations around the world, particularly in relation to the climate crisis. Originally,  European colonialists brought Kufuor gallons to Ghana to transport cooking oil. Today, the plastic vessels are ubiquitous and used to haul potable water. “As repurposed relics of the colonial project, they serve as a constant reminder of the legacies of empire and of global movements for environmental justice,” says a statement about the work that’s part of Desert X, a biennial bringing site-specific installations to Southern California.
      “The Wishing Well” is one facet of Clottey’s larger Afrogallonism project, which he describes as “an artistic concept to explore the relationship between the prevalence of the yellow oil gallons in regards to consumption and necessity in the life of the modern African.” The Accra-based artist works in a variety of mediums spanning installation, sculpture, and performance that deal with the broader influence of colonialism in Africa. You can see a larger collection of his pieces on Artsy and Instagram.

      #climate change
      #colonialism
      #installation
      #plastic
      #water

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      Thousands of Plastic Bottles Are Suspended in Green Tendrils in Artist Jean Shin’s Latest Installation

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      Art

      #installation
      #plastic
      #sustainability

      July 19, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Floating MAiZE.” All images © Jean Shin and Ryan Muir, shared with permission
      In her installation “Floating MAiZE,” artist Jean Shin employs more than 7,000 plastic bottles to create a stunning suspension above an atrium at Brookfield Place. The window-lined space allows light to refract through the translucent tendrils, which are hung in a staggered, circular shape. Layered with sustainable practices, the latest installation reuses the green, plastic bottles from the 2017 project, “MAiZE,” which utilized Mountain Dew that was consumed and collected in Iowa, the nation’s leader in corn production. Living and working in Brooklyn, Shin also sourced some pieces from Sure We Can, a nonprofit recycling center in her neighborhood.
      The recycled piece falls at the intersection of environmental consciousness and commentary on food consumption in the United States. “Following the food chain from industrial-scale agricultural practice producing corn in America that ends up being consumed as high fructose corn syrup in soda and other processed foods, served up in plastics that become harmful pollutants in our oceans,” the artist writes on Instagram.
      Shin tells Colossal that her works help to expose “the interdependency of their consumer habits to the larger ecosystem,” which she elaborates on by saying:
      I use everyday objects and detritus that are often overlooked or obsolete to transform them into large scale installations. The lifecycle and accumulation of these consumer objects have a huge environmental impact. I am interested in where these materials come from, where they end up and who engages with them.
      Along with her sweeping piece “The Last Straw,” “Floating MAiZE” will be on view through August 30 at Winter Garden at Brookfield Place. (via Hyperallergic)

      #installation
      #plastic
      #sustainability

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    • 163 Shares129 Views

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      Luminescent Zip-Tie Formations Are Shaped into Futuristic Organic Life by Artist Elisabeth Picard

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       “Ondulation” (2014), white zip-ties, RGB LED light, and painted plywood, 
36 x 36 x 6 ¼ inches. 
Photo by Michel Dubreuil. All images © Elisabeth Picard, shared with permission Montreal-based artist Elisabeth Picard curls, fans, and locks together hundreds of zip-ties into tremendously formed glowing sculptures and undulating installations. The futuristic artworks merge geological […] More

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      Black Trash Bags Take Control of Animal and Human Life in ‘Garb-age’ by Murmure

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       “Garbage whale” (2019), black stone and pencil on paper, 70 x 100 centimeters. All images © Murmure French duo Paul Ressencourt and Simon Roche, or Murmure, highlight the nefarious nature of a commonplace object in their latest project that explores the human impact on the environment. The monochromatic pieces illustrate the ubiquity of the […] More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

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      26 Contemporary Chinese Artists Explore Materiality in ‘Allure of Matter’

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       Zhu Jinshi, “Wave of Materials” (2007), Xuan paper, cotton thread, bamboo, and stones. Installation view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, image © Museum Associates/LACMA CHICAGO—Containing a massive paper wave, a tower of leftover fat, and a tiger-skin rug of 500,000 cigarettes, The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China encompasses 48 works […] More