Marshall Coles
Aurora Robson’s “Isla” is made of trash collected from rivers and lakes.
The best type of art engages viewers’ hearts and minds in reflection, contemplation and, ultimately, conversations about the works and their meanings. When controversial social issues come into play, those conversations become more meaningful.
Such is the case with Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials, which runs through Jan. 5 at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus. Those handy, petroleum-based polymers, a boon to humankind in the industrializing 20th century, are now a bane to our planet’s very existence, as discussions on climate change are ratcheting up to critical levels. The beauty of this exhibit’s art adds greater complexity to the equation.
“The exhibit captures our imagination because it brings visual artists into the conversation,” says Amy Gilman, the Chazen’s director. “Plastics have been the great enabler, but also have become the new negative. The question is whether we can find a more thoughtful approach to the conversation.”
EPW STUDIO
Mark Dion, "Institute for Invertebrate Marine Biology"
The exhibit, on loan from Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art, showcases 60 works by 30 different contemporary artists, all of whom consider plastics either in the materials chosen or the issues addressed in the works. The exhibit covers three distinct periods — the “Archive,” which addresses past uses of plastics; the “Present,” which considers current issues; and the “Speculative Future,” which weaves more fanciful outcomes for the plastic plague currently inundating the planet.
“Economies of Scale,” a 2013 work by artist Pamela Longobardi, represents the proliferation of plastics in the ocean with a horizontal line of objects — starting with a barely visible pinprick and blossoming through buoys, bobbers, flotsam and jetsam to a floater slightly smaller than a bowling ball.
Some of the pieces are stunningly beautiful, both in their creation and execution. Canadian artist and educator Aurora Robson’s twin pieces “Ona” and “Isla,” from 2014, resemble elaborate purple and pink sea anemones. Both works were built entirely from plastic trash collected and cleaned by Robson and her students from lakes and rivers in New York state.
Steve McPherson
Steve McPherson, "Wavelengths"
One of the exhibit’s most impressive pieces is “Akpalakpa II (Weave),” a 2012 piece by Nigerian artist Ifeoma U. Anyaeji who wove hundreds of grocery store plastic bags into a giant basket-like wall hanging that opens to the ground.
“I love this piece,” says Kate Wanberg, who curated the show. “She has salvaged materials that will not break down in the environment and created a meaningful social statement.”
“We can no longer send our trash away and pretend it falls off the side of the Earth,” Gilman says. “Turning trash into beautiful art enables a conversation both more measured and less defensive. It builds awareness that makes any call to action more accessible.”
