26in x 12in x 22.5in/ Water bottles, gouache, foam, LED lights
Styrofoam and plastic bottles are typically seen in a strictly utilitarian light; they are perceived merely as the receptacle of the contents they carry to their consumers. For this project, my intention was to see styrofoam and plastic as materials in and of themselves. I created New Light to turn trash to treasure.
I treated the styrofoam and plastic with two separate goals in mind: to preserve their “natural” qualities, and to transform. The base of New Light preserves the raw appearance of the materials in the state in which I collected them. The top form is heavily manipulated to give the materials a novel appearance, allowing the viewer to see the styrofoam and plastic away from its utilitarian associations. These two lenses were my attempt to breathe new life into “dead” materials, and highlight their intrinsic qualities.
