Art Talk: Recycled Plastic Art Movement

Have you heard of Cracking Art?

I hadn't until I went to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona on New Years Day. There is a Cracking art exhibit throughout the garden from October 2019- May 2020.

The philosophy for this new art movement

The Cracking Art movement was born in 1993 with the intention to radically change the history of art through a strong social and environmental commitment. The revolutionary use of plastic materials investigates the close relationship between natural and artificial reality. ¹

The group is from Milan, Italy. They have had major installations is Cleveland, Ohio in 2016, Siena, Italy in 2015, Central Park, New York City, 2013, Venice, Italy in 2001 and Milan, Italy in 1996. ¹

It is now at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Let's take a look.

Frogs
I hope you don't have a phobia of frogs.

According to wikipedia: ²

The plastic, chosen material of the movement, has the eternal property of being crushed and reshaped into other sculptures. The artworks are designed to inspire sensibility in recycling plastic for the environment while leaving a significant artistic value to the world we live in. Recycling plastic means to subtract toxic destruction which devastates nature, as well as creating plastic artworks means to communicate through an universal language while paying strong attention to the planet.

Penguins

Penguins among the cacti!

Snails

Bears

Alligator

A 17 foot alligator in the desert!

Fish

Rabbits

Wolves

There are more than 1,000 animal sculptures throughout the garden. It was fun to wander through the garden and see the bright plastic sculptures. Some were very obvious and some were a little more discreet.

I am impressed by the group Cracking Art that is taking recycled plastic and making it into bright and interesting art!

For more pictures of the garden from my New Year's Day visit see Happy New Month / January 2020

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