Materials, Upcycling and Commodities

A sample of some of the interesting links I've been coming across as I go through my archived papers of bits and pieces. Told you this is the year I get and stay organized! Maybe by the year's end..


Matthew Gerring "Moon", Embroidery on black technical nylon, 9', 2005

My work is distinctly material-based, with a strong emphasis on labor and craft. However, my craft does not stem directly from any particular tradition, and my labor is of question­able value. My map of the moon, based on Victorian dark ground maps, is executed in machine embroidery on black technical nylon. It demonstrates how science has deconstructed magical celestial bodies in an attempt to "know" them. Description itself can be a sort of colonization.

Yuken Teruya

The artist cuts out shapes of tree branches and leaves on one side of disposable paper bags. Assembling a tree from the cut-out parts, there is a tree standing in a bag. However it seems like the bag is holding the fragile tree inside, it is the strength of the tree that is holding the bag up. When you see it under the natural light, the delicate tree inside the paper bag shows us the strength and the proof of existence of living tree. The each tree has a model. They are the trees that the artist saw in his neighborhood or from where he has traveled. The each bag holds a portrait of a tree inside.

Gummy Bear Chandelier by Yaya Chow

This gummi bear chandelier is made of gummi bears, beads, monofilament, plastic, metal and light bulbs by Tiawanese born, mixed-media artis, YaYa Chou. YaYa explores questions about food consumption and class by rearranging embellished snacks in the forms of luxury commodity. She wants people to ask, "Who consume these foods? Who has the choice to choose?"

YaYa Chou’s works combine humor and commentary on modern lifestyles; they are inspired by language, social phenomenon and melody, stemmed from consumption, theory, and words. Mostly she investigates the assumption of what is natural and what is unnatural. She observes the distinctness of people’s cognitive thinking and the similarity of human experience in different cultures. YaYa is interested in utilizing familiar objects or images to depict the dichotomy found inside highly developed societies. Elements from nature, animal and plant images often appear in her work, because they create an invisible tension or distance from our modern lifestyles.

Color Based installation by Yaya Chow

“Color Based” is a sculpture installation project designed to emphasize the effects of artificial food coloring and flavors on children. Glass bottles filled with Pepto Bismol form a line to resemble industrial conveyor belt; while the circus tent signifies the filling machine which fills children with colorful foods/pharmaceuticals. She chose Pepto Bismol because the consistency and color reminds her of pigment in acrylic paint instead of edible items, also pink is a unique color that evokes certain emotional response. The circus tent is used here as a symbol of the hyperactivities children display after ingesting artificial food ingredients (food coloring, flavors, saccharin, salicylate… etc.). via My Modern Metropolis