Art: What I do for a HOBBY

2D is art unimaginative, unoriginal, and has limited ways to interact with it, other than just sight. A flat painting can be reproduced as postcards, photographed and shown in book pages etc. Due to this, I feel that 2D art lacks an aura, a term introduced by the philosopher Walter Benjamin to mean the power of seeing an object/artwork in person, and its effect on the viewer. For example,when you see the famous painting in its full size, in the context of a gallery, it has a greater impact on you than any digital reproduction of it on a postcard. 3D art interacts with the viewer's many senses, such as its presence in a room/space, sounds, texture or touch, and smell, engaging more senses than just sight, thus enhancing its aura.

Making art involves using  toxic materials, such as plastic acrylic paint and glues with toxic chemicals, and so on. In my own art, I use strong  but chemically toxic glues, so instead of throwing the cans and tubes of glue away, I use them in my art. Therefore, my art becomes a one-way system, where the materials are brought in to the art shed, then leave as part of the artworks themselves rather than going to landfill.  

As a student, I don't have the money to invest in fancy art equipment or expensive materials. So I use rubbish instead, repurposing and transforming the waste products of a consumer society into art, thus preventing rubbish from entering landfill. Rubbish holds stories of their first life, e.g. a wrapper could tell a tale of what it held inside it, the logo it wore, the company it was made by etc. By repurposing it, I am giving it a second story, a new meaning. 

Bones are the butcher's equivalent of plastic wrappers. It's the meat they're after, not the bones that are thrown away as symbols of the dead. But in many cultures and mythologies, death is seen as the beginning of a new life. They are blank forms, waiting to be reborn through art.

If you are an artist, maybe it's time you should look at your own practise, and contemplate on what more you can do to make your practise less wasteful. 

To see more of my work, see my Instagram.