When I begin working on a new piece of art I start by addressing what bothers me. Trash bothers me, especially after a hurricane when the garbage trucks cannot pick-up the trash for a week. With all the trash I see, I can't help thinking about how wonderful it would be if companies were required to list all the materials they used for their packaging on their products like the nutrition facts on the back of food containers.
Yes, recycling is an easy way to get rid of all the packaging, plastic, etc. but is that enough? It seems like such a waste to me. I think we should consider our purchases by factoring in the packaging and what we are going to do with all the waste; not just pass it along to the recycle bin. It is almost like making it o.k. to purchase all the bulk you want because, "it can be recycled." Recycling is great, but after you have repurposed everything you possibly can.
The piece above is made everything left around my house. My house always seems to be in constant motion. Stuff moves from room to room. We consume food that has packaging. What to do with the leftover packaging is a constant challenge. Plus, people give me things all the time. Like the silverware in this piece. I didn't design the piece and then look for items to put in it. The mismatched fork and knife has been in my silverware drawer for the past two years; glaring at me; waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. Unmatched and unwanted, I couldn't just recycle it or give it to Goodwill. What would they do with it?
Everyone creates art for different reasons. For me, its my voice saying the things I want to say, but just can't get it out in words.
Great philosophy on creating, and hopefully you'll inspire lots of the rest of us creative types to do things with trash instead of recycling it or throwing it out! I know lots of ideas have been floating around in my head since I started following your blog :)
ReplyDelete