Title: "Styrofoam Ethos"
Medium: Mixed Media
Size: 22cm x 40cm
April 8th 2016
Exhibition Text
With this project I wanted to express the values of today's society, make people more aware of what is happening in the real world how we care a lot about ourselves only and our own needs. People can't even stop for a minute to think and reflect on what they already have and ask themselves this question "Do I really need this?". Using objects that are not intended to be art I created a sculpture. The artist that inspired me to create this artwork is Dario Tironi. |
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Meaning
With this art work I wanted to make people more aware of what is happening in the real world, and through my piece reflect the values of today's society. In today's world we are very self centered, we care a lot about only our needs and what is the best for us without thinking about the consequences or the people we hurt and also the environment. There is an overemphasis on consumption, celebrities, obsession with wealth and image, staying young, glamour and glitz. So many people around the world have real needs. They lack the basics, food, clean water, shelter and the people that have so much more do, seem to seek out and want more. It never seems to be enough. They can't even stop for a minute to think and reflect on what the already have and ask themselves this question "Do I really need this?"
Some of the materials I used to express todays values were:
One dollar- the desire for more money, greed
Green, blue, red sparkles- obsession with looks, perfection
Phone- social media
Lightbulb- the amount of electricity we waste, Americans waste $130 billion energy a year
Plastic fork, spoon, spaghetti- amount of wood we waste and obesity. More than 35% of U.S. adults are obese
Plastic bag- throw away society
#1- how many likes we get on a Instagram photo is an important measurement of our friendships
McDonald's French fry bag- fast food, fast paced life
Some of the materials I used to express todays values were:
One dollar- the desire for more money, greed
Green, blue, red sparkles- obsession with looks, perfection
Phone- social media
Lightbulb- the amount of electricity we waste, Americans waste $130 billion energy a year
Plastic fork, spoon, spaghetti- amount of wood we waste and obesity. More than 35% of U.S. adults are obese
Plastic bag- throw away society
#1- how many likes we get on a Instagram photo is an important measurement of our friendships
McDonald's French fry bag- fast food, fast paced life
Process
For my next project we got the opportunity to work with UWM, resulting in this collaboration. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do. At the end I decided to create a piece which represents what I feel are the values of today's society. First I gathered all the objects that symbolized those values such as, self-centeredness, focus on wealth, social media, celebrities, consumerism, frantic pace of life, and wastefulness. The items used were plastic bags, plastic utensils, bottle caps, pin, toothpicks, spaghetti, magazines, matches, light bulb, energy drink plastic bottle, McDonald's fries bag etc. The second thing I did was stick everything using glue, tape and pins on to a styrofoam head. The head representing us, humans. I also liked the material of the styrofoam since it is soft, more porous material, on which these symbolic items can easily be stuck on. That too helped me in this project as this styrofoam head because it is soft and porous helps to represent how these "values" so easily become important to us, stick to us and begins to define who we are. The last step was to take pictures of my final piece.
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Artist Inspiration
My artist inspiration for this piece is Dario Tironi. He is an Italian artist that looks at trash as precious materials for his next great sculpture. Taking everything from old kids toys to discarded computer components creating a recycling universe. With taking junk items that fall in his hands he glues the parts together creating detailed, vivid coloured, realistic sculptures of people, animals and objects, creating a new image of art. Showing people that anything even trash can be used as beautiful pieces of art.
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Reflection
It was hard for me to think of a project that hit the criteria, even though basically you could do whatever you want. But it wasn't easy as you think. I'm an IB student for all my classes I have to follow a certain criteria. They are in a way my layout how to do my work. When I heard about this project, that we had hardly any limits I found it hard to come up with ideas. But after thinking awhile I came up with "Styrofoam Ethos".