5 art-activists that warn you about climate change
In the last decade we are facing human-induced calamities, living with the perspective of a starving future. People express the power of nature through art since the Paleolithic age, and now as it was then we are powerless in front of certain disasters.Change our habits it’s impossible overnight but we need to take small actions to overturn this situation. Modern artists offer us a different point of view, keeping the lights on the problem trough significant paintings, installations, and photos. Here, I’ve collected the most appealing and relevant environmental artists of the contemporary time.
Agnes Danes
She an all-around artist, covering several artistic fields: investigating science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, poetry, history, and music. Born in Budapest, was raised in Sweden and educated in the United States. The artist plays with imagination and reality in her most recognized artwork: Wheatfield – A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan. The artist planted and harvested 2 acres of wheat on the Battery Park landfill, in 1982. Planting a land worth $4.5 billion, it represented a paradox and underlines our misplaced priorities. The exhibition of landfill’s pictures traveled around the world in 28 different cities, between 1987 and 1990.
Nils Udo
The German artist is one of the most prolific environmental artists, with artworks in different parts of the world. On his website, you can discover art in nature, in urban space and paintings. One of the most recognizable works is the Nest, realized with maximum care in South Carolina in 2015. Juxtaposed to the construction’s quality, Udo used untreated wood which would ruin and break. Similarly birds build the nest with extreme ability however what seems durable is destined to end up with the season. Men learnt from that and start building with criteria of permanence. A vision that we are loosing if we think about our planet’s conditions.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan is an American artist based in Seattle. Most of his works are photographs of garbage and piles of common objects. A famous picture of the artist is a dead bird with a stomach full of garbage. Between 2004 and 2005 Jordan realized the collection “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption”, a series of pictures shot in landfill and recycling centers. With these pictures he denounces the American consumerism, underlining that recycling it’ not enough, but it’s necessary to slow down consumptions.
Mel Chin
Born in Huston, Texas, Mel Chin is a conceptual visual artist. During his life he collaborates with activists and cultural organizations, using recycled products for his artworks. He exploring a wide variety of techniques, including photographs, installations, actions, and dresses.
In 2018 he has released an app in partnership with Microsoft, it shows New York underwater, trough augmented reality. With this app, you will be surrounded by floating boats, occasionally bumping each other. His art is a remark to a question: How we should face the rising of sea levels?
Paulo Grageon
After a relatively quiet life at the foot of the Alps, in Grenoble, Mr. Graegeon was pushed into the spotlight by an artwork commissioned by WWF. He created 1.600 little paper-mache pandas and toke them on tour through 10 Asian cities, after visiting Paris and Rome. The total number is a symbolic representation of the number of Pandas left in nature. Above all the world tour want to persuade people to respect nature and the other species on earth.
These are just part of world famous environmental artists, and it will follow more posts concerning them. If you want to read more about art-activism, check it out, Though and artworks of Bansky, regarding the indoor artworks of the artist.
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