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Page 47 of 67
ABN
ONE MAN'S TRASH...
FROM HUBCAPS TO METAL SCRAPS, FIVE ARTISTS FIND INSPIRATION IN SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
BY ELLIOT V. KOTEK "S
ustainability." A beautiful buzz word that has been fl oat- ing around arts and craſt s communities for decades, it refers
to environmentally-conscious artwork created using material that, to the aver- age observer, may just look like junk. Whether created with scrap metal, old furniture or discarded paint, sustainable art has environmental, economic and social implications—even if, for the art- ist in question, the choice of materials is more of a practical one than one driven by a spirit of environmental awareness. Here, we chat with fi ve artists whose
work proves that one man's trash is an- other man's fi ne art treasure.
KEN MARQUIS Self-declared car buff Ken Marquis
had a "Eureka!" moment when he picked
up a hubcap at a car show in August of 2008. T e Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania- based artist saw in the old, rusty piece of metal "a great piece of junk to not only recycle, but to repurpose." From that revelation, the Landfi llart Project (www. landfi llart.org) was born. Marquis has taken his unusual "Artist
Reclamation Project" to the people, en- gaging hundreds of artists from around the world—including Poland, India, France and the U.S.—to create works of art out of hubcaps. So far, the numbers come in at more than 1,000 hubcaps, manufactured by 20 diff erent auto mak- ers from the 1930s through the 1970s. Marquis is currently on the lookout
for more artists willing to tackle this unique "metal canvas" and plans to showcase the highlights of the project with both a traveling show and a book.
CASSANDRA TONDRO Santa Monica, California-based art-
ist Cassandra Tondro (www.tondro. com) has always had an interest in creating sustainable art, and her experimentation with eco-friendly materials has directly impacted the evolution of her work.
T e key in- gredient in
"I ENJOY THE CHALLENGE OF WORKING WITH THE COLORS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO ME RATHER THAN COLORS OF MY CHOICE."
Tondro's paintings is recycled acrylic latex paint, commonly known as house paint, which she rescues from recycling centers and the "mistint" shelves at home improvement stores. Tondro has even developed a relationship with Santa Monica's Household Hazardous Waste Center, whose organizers let her know when any paint destined for the landfi ll comes their way. Being limited—philosophically so,
in a sense—to "found" paints "limits my color palette," Tondro admits. "But I enjoy the challenge of working with the colors that are available [to me] rather than colors of my choice. It has freed me to use colors that I would normally not choose and to explore color combina- tions that I never would have thought of otherwise."
A hubcap sculpture by Mark Needham, part of Ken Marquis' Landfi llart Project
46 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012
