Tess Felix

From the Waste Up: A Life Without Plastic – Tess Felix

Tess Felix is an artist from the Bay Area in the US. She uses waste materials,
mainly plastic from Stinson Beach, to create mosaic portraits of people. Some
of the common trash items she finds and uses in her work are: parts of cell
phones, discarded plugs, dental picks, bottle caps, fishing gear, old
batteries, hairbrushes, and the surprisingly frequent plastic tubes and nets
from oyster farming.

 

Jack Johnson, from the Eco Hero series – Tess Felix

She
leaves the found plastic debris pieces in their “natural state” and doesn’t
ever paint them. She uses silicone glue to attach the colourful marine debris
on to the canvases. Her larger works contain thousands of little pieces of
trash, layered up on the canvas to create portraits of people.

 

Portraits by Tess Felix

Tess
Felix explores serious issues of wildlife loss and environmental destruction
using her creativity, imagination and humour. Her intention is to raise
awareness in the viewer by sparking curiosity and initiating conversations.

 

Captain Charles Moore – Tess Felix

Her
work invites you on a journey of sorts. Initially and from afar, the portraits
resemble classic oil portraitures. It’s only when the viewer approaches closer
that the medium becomes apparent. As the items come in to view and objects can
start to be named, they strike a memory of past possessions in the viewer’s mind.
This is what Tess means by ‘initiating conversations’. This striking
familiarity of objects used may move observers to a more profound questioning
about waste and our individual roles in it.