Artist Statement for Plastic Organic
Plastic Organic is an examination of the visual culture of Indonesia as evident in the traditional market. It is a dialogue and intersection between three types of visual culture. Natural visual culture arises from things naturally available in the environment. The multitude of fruits and vegetable available at market is a result of the remarkable biodiversity of Indonesia. Traditional visual culture is created through people looking for ways in which things from the environment can meet their needs over a long period of time. Reed brooms, stone spice grinders, clay pots, and baskets are a direct collaboration between natural materials and the human ability to make things. There is also visual culture of objects arriving in Indonesia within the last hundred years, such as the plastic rope used to tie fruit up or the plastic sacks used to transport fruits and vegetables. Plastic Organic is a celebration of the aesthetic qualities of these everyday objects. Their textures, colors and opacities are abstracted and conjoined in a new environment so that their visual qualities can be experienced before being categorized and lost within the original context.
Plastic Organic
I started my research for this project desiring to discover the visual culture of Indonesia, trying to find what useful everyday objects carry the aesthetic of Indonesian culture. I went to the traditional market because it was the only place I found that was not a copy of something western and had a variety of objects available for purchase. I gathered everything that I could find beauty in and started to try combine my collection into new objects that would synthesize a new environment which would help people appreciate the aesthetic qualities of these every day objects. I wanted to demonstrate that beauty can be lived and experienced; it doesn’t need to be packaged and advertised.
I would have never predicted that I would be using so much plastic. I discovered that the markets weren’t just traditional; they were a place of intersection and dialogue between natural, traditional, and recent developments in culture. I think my work reflects this dialogue. I have used the most synthetic materials to emulate what is most natural, vines and the fruits that hang from the wall and sky. The strong and vibrant colors of the plastics echo the brilliant variety of Indonesian flora
for further information :
Common Room Network Foundation
Gustaff Hariman Iskandar
blauloretta@yahoo.com
My Tummy2008
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