Why do we need sustainability in the arts?
Nowadays, sustainability and art have become a big part of our daily life, because it is a key to a better future.
It has been at the center of everything, including art and design. The arts inspire humans, while sustainability secures the environment.
It includes how natural systems work, remains diverse, and produce everything needed to keep the ecosystem balanced. It is quite obvious that we are living in a world that is evolving around “sustainability” without realizing it.
These days, many artists and their activities rely on sustainability in their works of art. As environmental awareness rises, more artists consider the broader impacts of their work.
Here are six artists who turned waste into works of art for the world to cherish!
1. Choi Jeong Hwa
Recycled materials are Choi Jeong Hwa‘s specialty, and he uses them to make everything from little sculptures to large-scale installations. His artworks make his viewers think about mass production and consumerism in our current world.
To him, beautiful and ugly are the same thing, and plastic is like second nature, as plastic is a synthetic compound of rubber and oil.
Choi doesn’t only use recycled and non-biodegradable materials in his work. He also begins to look into the materials and how nature hasn’t let them be used. This leads to fantastic art that decorates big spaces and makes people feel lost in a magical world.
Moreover, he has re-stacked all of the everyday useful materials he has been collecting for 30 years, such as household trash, glass, and steel, to create his most recent masterpiece.
2. Hiroyuki Nishimura
Sculpture by Hiroyuki Nishimura.
Hiroyuki Nishimura is a sculptor who carves wood into unique shapes. Most of the timber he uses is worthless for other purposes. The wood is inappropriate for furniture or architectural purpose, therefore Nishimura utilizes it to reduce waste.
He has been working with Zouki from the Shonan and Izu Peninsulas of Japan for nearly 30 years. Before he begins, he searches for trees that will be taken down for construction or fall due to natural causes like typhoons.
For him, trees are gorgeous in their natural state. He whittles, carves, and sculpts, working with and against each tree’s particular shape and energy, in order to create an extraordinary sculpture to express its uniqueness.
by Hiroyuki Nishimura.
3. Song Dong
Song Dong‘s work focuses on themes of memory, self-expression, the fragility of life, and the transience of human undertakings. In addition, His projects are often composed of quotidian objects such as wooden windows, mirror panels, glass, hinges, handles, and window bolts. The way he expresses his arts by using old objects is like defining the word “sustainability” in a modern way.
4. Ruth Wallen
Ruth Wallen is a multi-media artist and writer who promotes ecological and social justice. In her work as an environmental scientist, she explores disciplinary boundaries as well as values that shape environmental policy and the emerging discipline of ecological art. In addition, she considers herself an ecological artist who puts “sustainability” beyond everything.
As part of her continuing project, “Walking With Trees”, she explores the biological changes taking place in the California woodlands. Due to urbanization, climate change, and the introduction of new species through global commerce, more than 150 million trees have died in California since 2010.
5. Marina DeBris
Marina Debris is one of the most brilliant eco-friendly artists who transformed ocean and pollution waste into high-end fashion.
The term “trashion” of debris highlights the rising problem of ocean and garbage pollution.
In the way the water delivers them to land, the debris materials are employed just as they are. Furthermore, The stinky, filthy, and outdated materials serve as a strong reminder of just how serious the situation is. As a result, they drive people to take action.
6. Bettina Werner
For Bettina Werner, she believes that “salt” can be a great artistic medium. Not only because of its long history but also because it represents “wisdom and insight”. During the ancient times, salt was way more valuable than gold and it used to be a currency for global trade.
She is known to be the first artist who used salt to create a masterpiece, which is why we are not surprised that she is the one and only “queen of salt”.
Bettina Werner is a New York City art icon, very much alive and well.
An interdisciplinary “salt artist,” she grew up creating and pioneering hundreds of timelessly and wonderfully unique salt crystal works.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com. — In the Featured Photo: Fish installations from plastic bottles, Brazil Source: mymodernmet
