The combination of art and the environment can be an excellent guide to follow. There are many artists, whether they are photographers, sculptors, or urban artists, who have decided to take care of nature, creating works that convey messages that are impossible to ignore.
In recent months at home, when it was impossible to move and travel physically, it’s necessary to find positive inspirations. In particular, there are very interesting projects in which contemporary art protects the environment. Those raise awareness on issues that are more collective than ever and of great relevance.
Contemporary art and environment
Sculptors, photographers, painters and street artists have decided to dedicate their talent to the defense of the planet that hosts us, tackling urgent and delicate issues.
When it comes to art, it is normal to think of tempera, watercolors and clay, all materials worthy of value. But the plastic has an immense potential. Among the many different proposals for creative recycling, that of the Ghizlane Sahli stands out. She has focused on the reinterpretation of the theme of the sea, transforming plastic bottles into colored jellyfish with long and intertwined tentacles.
Another great supporter of the binomial art and sustainability is the Indian artist Arun Kumar, who in one of the latest editions of the “Sculpture by the sea” festival which takes place in Arhus, Denmark, has decided to raise public awareness on the topic of sustainability environmental. The work “Droppings and the dam” is the sculpture he made using only recycled plastic. More than 70,000 plastic caps, collected all over the world
“It is so sad to see the planet suffering in this way. It is from nature that we seek inspiration and peace, and we are destroying it. How many natural disasters have there been in recent years? We have now devastated such a large part of our Earth that it is almost impossible to completely stop and repair our mistakes. We must learn to love it. Now more than ever. And if each of us gets to work, we will certainly have a few more possibilities. “
Art and Climate Change
Nature is therefore overwhelmingly present in the imagination of the contemporary artist. This is what we see, for example in the works of Nnenna Okore, experimentations that turn to the mysteries of the human genome. Also by playing with genetic kits and DNA.
A path of continuous questions and answers, where biotechnology becomes an art tool, pursuing an ethics of manipulation.
The Prada Foundation hosted Michael Wang’s Extinct in the Wild exhibition. The project enclosed in the north wing of the Milanese complex. It investigates the dynamics of the protection of endangered animal and plant species. In fact, the artist showcases a series of living creatures that no longer exist in the wild. The finger is pointed, albeit with aesthetic tolerance, towards those interventions that have shaped biomes and atmospheres. Definitively and inexorably changing their balance.
The result is surprising in the inevitable contradiction. Creatures whose survival is endangered by man can be preserved only and exclusively thanks to the intervention of man himself. For example, through the reproduction of artificial environments capable of hosting them.