(Archive Copy July 2011)
Artist’s
tend to see the lighter side of excess, consumer waste is filled with
both possibility and accountability. Artists Tim Craker and Anna Maria
Plescia are adepts at adapting garbage into objects of contemplation,
objects that happen to resemble natural forms.
“I
am fascinated by mobiles, and often use soft durable plastics like
take-way food containers,” explains Craker about his recent airborne
works. “For me the installation stems from a response to art materials.
The work is not primarily inspired by wanting to work with waste
materials, but by seeing materials or objects that have a certain
possibility, I want to see what these things these materials can do.”
“People
often assume that the work is all about recycling, and that - for
example - I have collected and washed used takeaway food containers to
make art. In fact I purchased the containers new - I wanted them to be
smooth and clean, shiny and uniform and in large quantities, and
instantly available. Of course the work does make a necessary reference
to our use – both over-use and mis-use -of disposable plastics, but that
is a secondary meaning to me - or rather, not the reason I made it.
It's more about seeing other purposes for everyday objects, and
realising unseen potentials.”
For artist Anna Maria Plescia , an interest in using waste materials came during her time studying at RMIT.
”
We were encouraged to use waste material like old phone books, cheap
and easy available material including street leftovers , two dollar shop
products that are quickly disposed of by consumers, toothpicks for
example. We were encouraged to use waste alongside traditional materials
like canvas.”
“For
an artist with limited means, waste is an inexpensive medium easily
available. That said, we don’t see it on the streets as much- you need
to be a scavenger today more than ever before, recycling is happening on
a bigger scale, throw away phone books are harder to find.”
“My
work in last year’s exhibition was made by cutting phone books
carefully with a band saw, organised to look like a pool of water was
flowing from the wall. It was a work about excess, excessive waste,
excess information, and that waste is also a part of nature now.”
“I'm
more in to the beauty of waste, that’s what turns me on as an artist,
there is beauty where you would least expect it. I like to make a work
that provides a sense of the miraculous, a transformation or
regeneration, like there is life after death. This year my work, Anew (2011),
is like a small tree trunk with two major limbs, a canvas and toothpick
combination, it has both an inside and an outside, both equally
important, it looks a little threatening too.”
Craker’s new work, Web (2011),
is a delicate interlacing of green waste, ‘recycled’ fennel that grows
wild along train tracks, an Islamic patterning of sorts, “it’s a work
about adaptation now- I was inspired by an old school text, The Web of Life-
as a child I though the title was corny, but I loved that it was about
plants and animals adapting to different environments. Web is an aromatic take about geometrical perfection in an organic imperfect reality.”
aRtECYCLE
Incinerator Arts Complex
Moonee Ponds until June 12
Image below: TAKE (N) AWAY, 2009, Tim Craker
Below: Web (detail), 2011
2013 Artecycle - See this link:
http://mvcc.vic.gov.au/experience-moonee-valley/arts-and-culture/incinerator-gallery/artecycle.aspx
Annamaria Plescia- The Library Artspace 2013 Residency
https://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-LIBRARY-ARTSPACE/95075623895
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