Oil paintings
Bodegòns are the inspiration behind my paintings. A bodegòn is a 17th-century Spanish still life featuring everyday objects. The word comes from the Spanish bodega, meaning a cellar situated in the basement of a house where the food was kept. In Spain, it can also mean a place where wine and food are served.
The techniques I use intentionally evoke those paintings of the 17th century. The look is achieved by the use of an imprimatur (a first coat of dark and natural colour) and a glacis (a layer of transparent paint to strengthen the shadows). Backgrounds are dark, without pictorial or landscaped representation.
The packaged foods featured in the paintings are all commonly found in French kitchens. I deliberately chose everyday products, with no particularly selective approach; in most cases the packaging is made of plastic. This packaging is usually used only once and then thrown away. This consumption pattern is regarded as linear: ‘take, make and dispose’.
In the 17th century, plastic packaging of food did not exist. My 21st-century still lifes aim to question and to highlight the amazing quantity of packaging associated with our modern consumption, plastic in particular.
The framed installations
The framed installation filled with plastic toys also underlines the current model of consumption: we buy, we consume, we throw away. The toys are the kind that are given away with a children's menu in fast-food restaurants, or free at the till in hypermarkets or other businesses. The objective is to develop customer loyalty by targeting children. It is very likely that these products eventually end up in the household rubbish. This is even more surprising given that some of the toys contain a battery!
Billions of fragments of plastic end up in the oceans, where they are driven by the currents and mixed together. In the Pacific, plastic pollution has increased by 100 per cent over the last 40 years, according to a recent study. Other worrying fact, plastic fibres are found in tap water around the world (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals?)
The current linear model of consumption - take, make and dispose - is based on the accessibility of good, cheap materials and energy, but it has reached its limits today. By my initiative, I wish to support and promote the circular economy, which offers an interesting and credible alternative.
Deep change cannot take place without consideration of sustainable development and this has to be done in all aspects of our society: education, housing, work, health etc. Politics has to serve an ideal and to protect future generations from a ecological disaster.
To consume differently is becoming a necessity if we want to leave natural capital to our children and to guard against natural, industrial and humanitarian disasters. It has to become a pillar of modern politics. We must consider and plan what happens to a product at the end of its life even as we begin to design it. For example, any plastic packaging should be totally recyclable or biodegradable. This can be achieved only with coordination within industry at an international level. And this is possible!
The circular economy shows us that better production and consumption presents an opportunity for sustainable growth. Circular economics is a continuous positive development cycle that preserves and develops natural capital, optimizes resource efficiency and minimizes systemic risk through inventory management and resource flows.
For more information please refer to:
Https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/fr/economie-circulaire/concept
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmp74mnJ9E8
Note that there is currently a lot of thought around plastic that is going in the right direction (refer to the latest report http://newplasticseconomy.org) - but it must be acted upon fast!