BORDALO II
This week’s featured trash artist is an exciting one! Presenting… the one and only BORDALO II from Lisbon, Portugal.
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| Artur Bordalo by Martha Cooper |
Artur Bordalo has reused over 62 tons of waste materials in his work since 2012.
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| Chimp Smile – photo by Heron Arts |
“The excessive production and consumption of stuff, which results in the continuous production of “garbage” and consequently in the destruction of the Planet, are the central themes of his production. This “garbage” assumes itself as the unusual and unique raw material that Bordalo uses in the construction of small and large scale pieces that he has spread around the world and that, above all, intend to be the vehicle of a universal manifesto.” – www.bordaloii.com
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| Koala – photo by Miguel Portelinha |
His work is provocative, confronting onlookers with our consumerist habits. Some pieces can fit into Galleries and exhibitions but others are part of urban landscapes. And they’re hard to miss!
As the name indicates, his series of Big Trash Animals take up whole facades, towering over passers-by.
The large-scale yet realistic animals are built almost exclusively out of trash – the same material that kills them, as Bordalo says.
The Big Trash Animals adorn the walls of buildings all over the world, and follow an evolutionary sequence, divulging little by little the materials that shape them: from Neutral, to Half-Half, and finally to Plastics.
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| Three Polar Bears – photo by Bordalo II |
First in the series are the Neutral works, characterised by the total camouflage of the objects that compose them and the use of colours closer to the subtleties found in nature.
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| Orangutans – photo by Bordalo II |
The Half-Half series of Big Trash Animals goes a step further than the Neutral animals.
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| Half Seals – photo by Bordalo II |
Now the plastics are partially exposed, revealing the rawness of the materials, and an abstraction of the animals depicted.
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| Half Badger – photo by Bordalo II |
Next come the Plastics, a natural evolution of the sequence.
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| Iberian Lynx – photo by Bordalo II |
“The focus is on form and composition in order to create colorful works, demonstrating the artist’s appreciation for the contradictory beauty of our waste, through games of contrast, texture, color and depth, created with parts of recognizable objects from our daily lives.” – www.bordaloii.com
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| Plastic Jellyfishes – photo by Bordalo II |
Finally, much like so much plastic waste on this planet, we end up with the Floating series, trash sculptures pictured in the marine environment.
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| Plastic Whale – photo by Austin Novy / Chop Em Down |
Bordalo’s work is a beautiful reminder of the “trashedy” facing biodiversity and the natural world which we are a part of. It is a stark in-your-face reminder that our consumption habits are having a Big impact on animal’s lives. Let’s get inspired and take small eveyday steps towards Big Change.
Thank you Artur! Your art is changing perspectives, reducing waste and giving a voice to wildlife in cities.