Make your own Kingdom with Antti Laitinen

// February 25th, 2010 // View Comments // b-inspired

The work of Finnish artist Antti Laitinen kindles some humour. In 2008 under the title ‘Voyage’ he rowed his own desert island down the Thames (watch the video).

Building a paradise somewhere it does not belong is a repeating theme in Laitinen’s works. “The will to build oneself an own independent micro-nation inhabited by a single citizen – I would consider themes such as these to be the starting point for my works, not climate change”, he says.

“Not that it’s wrong to interpret my works from that point of view. There is no one right way to read an artwork.”

His work ‘It’s my Island’ was featured at the Earth: Art for a changing world at the RAA. There I watched his 3 month struggle to construct his own island in the cold Baltic Sea. Complementing these partly slapstick films were idealised photographs of his new territory. Utopian visions poking at our natural urge for our own palm paradise.

The eco-revolution

// November 12th, 2009 // View Comments // b-scene

The whole world is going green! Art is no exception. From artists like Lynne Hull who are creating wildlife friendly art to the creative minds of pioneers Tim Pace and John T. Unger, who use only recycled material in their works, this seemingly new trend in art has been a long time in the making. Arguably, the real pioneers of green art were the Land Artists of the 1970’s like Robert Smithson (Spiral Jetty, 1970) and Walter de Maria (The Lightening Field, 1977). They chose the environment as the setting for their creations, drawing awareness to natural surroundings and bringing viewers outside the traditional ‘white cube’ gallery setting to experience the works.

Now, being labeled “green” is seen as trendy. With the current financial crisis and the looming threat of global warming, poor has become the new edgy and recycling the new hip.

Hull has taken the Land Art concept to a new level where her works are not only set in nature, but also benefit the natural world. Below: “Dancing Heron” (driftwood, Panama)

Unger and Pace collect unwanted and discarded material and transform them into something aesthetically beautiful. Below: John T. Unger’s “Bottlecap Fish Mosaic No. 21″ (plywood, primer, Bud Light and Izze bottle caps, recycled roofing copper), “La Siren” (Vitreous glass, bottle caps, stone, copper, glass eyes, Hardibacker substrate)

Tim Pace’s “Owl” from the series “Birds of a Feather” (recycled metal).

What do you think? Do artists have a social obligation as cultural influences to create eco-friendly art during this green revolution?