Environmental Art by Kayla Boutot

Preface

My name is Kayla Boutot, and my work is titled “Environmental Art” and will be using CC BY licenses for my project.

Intro

With the topic I decided to effectuate for this assignment was the option of environmental humanities artistic expression. I chose art verbatim for this project. This is better known as ecological art or Eco art, this style of art is a movement that uses contemporary art to make you focus on an eco-friendly idea while making the audience reviewing the piece embarrassed about the environmental issues we suffer with. People like Joseph Beuys, Diane Burko, El Anatsui, Aurora Robson, and many others have brought so much light to ecological art.

Theme

These artists I will be talking about have two ideas within their work causing a central theme. First one being is using nature to symbolize their work and what it represents. The second one being that they acknowledge the problem that resides within the earth and the mass pollution we have done to it. They want to symbolize earth and nature while still simultaneously showing you the impact that people have to the environment.

Analysis

This image showcases a sculpture using old items that would have been just thrown away by someone. He wanted to represent a lot with this piece of work even though to some it may look like a bunch of junk mashed together and was called art. He wanted to express nature, transmittance of energy, and the state or idea of transformation. This piece shines light in many museums and many other artists. This was not the only piece he did like this; he has made many other sculptures out of old things and expressed a nature that may not be found just from the looks of it.

This image showcases a painting that Diane did, with ecofriendly paints. She wanted to represent the climate change and how people were affecting it over time on earth. This piece being on out of a trilogy of paintings to show the destruction and damages we have done to the climate. She wanted you to look at it and be wowed by the looks of smoke on the left side coming from the fire in the middle that is facing the cold on the right. Her work may be simpler with symbolism, but it still is so effective.

This image showcases a sculpture by El Anatsui, with metal and wire scraps. He had no ecofriendly message to it but like many of his pieces he represented his culture and brought into art by using an ecofriendly style. It’s beautiful and intricate with how the wires and metals are bent into almost looking like a cloth with wrinkles and folds to form such a beautiful picture that then led him to make a second version of it.

Application

Ecological art is such an important way of learning for many people. It can make you feel something and take only a few seconds out of your day. Most people will view these over reading pages upon pages to understand the true value of art and what this kind of art can be due for the world. They speak messages through old usage of things or even show you the effects we have on our earth. It’s something we can all even take part of cause art is meant for everyone and you can use almost anything to convey a message in it. Ecological art can come in many different forms but each one is so important to how we can view and care for the environment, and each piece could help a person understand the importance of it.