‘Plastic World’: art for disposable society

Sneakers, dentures, computers – plastic is everywhere. Like a chameleon, he can go unnoticed, adapt to the environment, become invisible. And, of course, it is also used in the arts.

The boom of practically rotten material in the art scene came in the 1960s, but it had already been inspired by avant-garde movements in Paris decades before.

The first sculpture made of plastic was created in 1916 by the Russian sculptor Naum Gabo: “Tete No.2” (“Built Head No.2”) a cubist head made of rhodoid, a cellulose acetate plastic used to make dolls and balls billiards.

But not all plastics are created equal. When Plexiglas, also known as acrylic, appeared in the 1930s, new possibilities opened up, including for artists.

The Bauhaus and other artistic movements at the time experimented with transparency and reflections.

The artists of the Zero group, including Otto Piene and Heinz Mack, took advantage of the possibilities offered by this new plastic in the late 1950s, experimenting with plastic films to produce their light sculptures. Any material was good for his art, Mack said. But when designers also started using furniture plastic in pop colors, it lost interest.

Is this art or is it rubbish?

Plastic – hard or flexible, transparent, opaque, patterned, smooth, delicate or full of colors – appeared in various forms and artistic movements, including pop art.

John de Andrea’s 1978 female plastic nude sculpture “Woman Leaning Against the Wall” is so realistic you want to reach out and touch it to confirm it’s just a sculpture.

The boundaries between art and fashion have blurred. Thomas Bayrle, an artist from the German city of Frankfurt, worked with a fashion studio to create plastic coats that were later sold at department store chain Kaufhof for DM 25.50 (about €12, or $13). .

Niki de Saint Phalle, famous for her gigantic “Nanas”, also succumbed to the lure of plastic. In 1968 she created the Nanas inflatable balloon. As beach toys, people could take them on vacation.

plastic critics

French Nouveau Realisme artists such as Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Cesar and Arman were among the first to create works of art criticizing plastic as a symbol of consumerism and the throwaway society.

Arman created objects out of garbage called “Poubelles” (garbage cans) in which he squeezed a lot of plastic waste into a display case. “As a witness to this society, I have always been intensely concerned with the pseudo-biological cycle of production, consumption and destruction,” said Arman in 1973, adding that he had long been concerned that “one of the most obvious problems in concrete consequences of this cycle is to flood our world with waste and excess waste.” His words sound absolutely visionary today.

The colorful mix of Arman’s “Poubelles” was intended to contrast with Pop Art’s enthusiastic use of plastic. For example, American artist Claes Oldenburg created XXL soft sculptures intended to represent everyday objects. He used rigid polyurethane foam, a new material that hit the market in the 1960s and took the art world by storm.

paint with plastic

Lynda Benglis, another American sculptor, took a different path, expanding the boundaries between painting and sculpture by “painting” with latex and pigments. His sculptural “Pools” have an undulating organic form that almost seems alive because of the flow and movement of the plastic. Benglis also created a series of works in molded polyurethane foam and laminated paper.

The sculptures by Berlin-based artist Berta Fischer, born in 1973, are all about transparency and lightness. She creates ephemeral installations from plastic sheets, nylon threads or acrylic glass, with colored, reflective or transparent surfaces that look elegant and inexpensive at the same time.

“Plastic World”” exhibition at Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle museum, which runs until October 1, 2023, features art ranging from pop culture euphoria to space-age futuristic influence and the junk works of Nouveau Realisme to contemporary ecocritical works.

The exhibition showcases the allure of plastic and its downsides, emphasizing just how ambivalent the material can be. Plastic is both a curse and a blessing; it is indestructible, as is the concept of art itself.

This article was originally written in German.