Dead nature – an experiment for the physical and symbolic transformation of objects

Abstract

In my exhibition entitled Dead Nature, which will be held in October 2022, we cannot talk about a eureka-like happy exclamation; quite the contrary. The subject and material of the series of photographs and sculptures is the large quantity of plastic bottles that a single person household can produce in a few years, despite the greatest care. In the new works, I am attempting to make artistic use of this alarming, non-perishable material; but this innovation, the term "eureka" itself, takes on a bitter and ironic tone in my case. It may be that in the compositions with the traditional still-life objects, these too become valuable objects worthy of being preserved, or that the three dimensional objects in public spaces (made from plastic bottles painted grey) become sculptures, perhaps drawing attention to overconsumption; but all this is an illusion and not a solution to fully transform, give a new function to, or even make truly valuable the incomprehensible amount of harmful material that we use every day.