Green Art

Nowadays, the concept of sustainability is integrated in many sectors of society, as the value of the natural environment is more and more recognized. A maybe surprising sector that has also embraced the beauty of sustainability, is the art world. Artists express their connection to nature in many different, creative ways. Some provide a message in their paintings, others make art out of trash or recycled products, while artists with more green fingers use nature itself to design the most beautiful creations. Below, several green art projects will be presented, followed by some inspiration for when you find yourself in a green art creation mood.  

The first artwork, located in Spain, has a deep meaning related to climate change. Ruben Orozco created a head of a girl, which has been placed in the river in the city Bilbao. Due to the changing tides, the head is sometimes above water and other times beneath the water surface. This represents the consequences we all might face when we keep contributing to the enhanced climate effect and therefore, to the rise in water levels. It is called 'Bihar', which means ‘Tomorrow’, and invites people to think about the future.  

Second, people can get very creative with the materials they use in their art. The company Converse works together with local artists to create large murals in cities. Those murals have been pained with a certain air-purifying paint, which absorbs CO2 from the air during the drying process. The mural presented below cab be found in Jakarta and has been created by the artists Wormo and Fivust. 

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey also make use of an unusual material when creating their art, namely: grass. They are using grass as biological photo paper. By strategically positioning light sources, the artists are able to make the grass grow faster or slower and also influence the color to a certain extent. This allows them to develop photographs in nature. Of course, the sustainability of this project can be contested, as it uses unnatural light sources and the grass dies after a week. However, it can certainly be described as green art! 

A material that is, unfortunately, more and more being used to create art is ocean plastic. It fortunate that the dumped plastic is being retrieved, however this represents just a tip of the iceberg. To create more awareness about the plastic soup and stimulate people to be more sustainable, artists use the ocean plastic in an art form to make a statement. The ‘Plastic Family’ is a result of the collaboration between Sergio Penzo and Rebecca Kudela. It has been exhibited at the European Parliament and the Aquarium of San Sebastian in Spain. 

Lastly, a more modern art form which is greatly appreciated by students has also been representing sustainable ideas, as well as almost everything else. This form of art is called memes and an example can be found below.