Introduction
In a global society that experiences persistent effects of over-consumption and environmental degradation, political movements of the art that tackle these concerns become dominant. The practice of recycled art, or art made of trash, includes the intelligent reuse and modification of items and things that would otherwise be discarded. Many international artists have included the concept of sustainability in their work, but Artur Bordalo, or Bordalo II as he is better known, is widely recognized as the leader of this movement because of his spectacular artistic style with a strong environmental message. By using stylishly society’s rubbish, Bordalo provokes environmental activism uniquely, urging viewing audiences to reevaluate their link with purchasing and its follow-up. This paper describes Bordalo’s artistic aesthetics and approaches, which are explained through the lens of the artist’s relationship to activist art while also exploring the theoretical basis of his works.
Visual Analysis: The Aesthetics of Bordalo’s Recycled Art
The central idea of Bordalo’s art is a complete reversal of the usual way people define things typically classified as worthless or useless. People rapidly consider the garbage as nothing and throw it away, thinking that the consequences will be minor. His colorful and idiographic animal sculptures, created from trees, plastic bottles, and scrap metal, exemplify how rubbish can be turned into a fascinating art piece. The recognizable waste that the artist uses creates a celebratory mood with a touch of nostalgia and, contrastingly, sends a profound message about the throwaway culture of modern society. His artistic work consists of picking and sorting out confiscated materials, which he then assembles into the striking giant figures of animals. These statues, which are usually portrayed in a striking posture or mixing with the city’s environment, render the problem of waste in a way that is not only very striking in appearance but also highly meaningful. The fact that Bordalo uses materials that would have ended up in landfills or polluting nature is yet another proof that beauty and creativity can emerge from the trash. The introduction of the materials used in Bordalo’s artistic installation “carries a kind of ‘heritage,’ reflecting its earlier function. This overlaid past and present have created a sense of coextrusion of time and space, which challenges the viewers to think of the narrative and history interweaved on each reused material.
Media and Message
Bordalo’s art medium – using discarded and even waste materials – is integral to his work’s meaning and motivation. Through that, the artist employs waste as a medium of art; he confronts the viewers with an unavoidable truth of consumerism and the environmental impact of society’s indulgence. The puzzling fact that all the junk can be so artistically used to create masterpieces cogently shows how much worth and aesthetic significance exist in the objects often thrown away. Bordalo applies his art to demonstrate the big problem of garbage and how it influences various ecosystems at the local and global levels. Public works, which are quite often located in the cities, become a smashing illustration of how we are unaware that over-consumption can devastate the ecosystem. Repurposing the materials that would negatively impact nature through Bordalo’s art becomes an active tool for environmental activism, showing the viewers how to relate to over-consumption and waste.
Intersections with Eco-Criticism and Environmental Justice
Bordalo’s works encompass the schema of art activism, which employs eco-criticism and environmental justice theory in a broader context. Eco-criticism investigates the remaining link between artistic expressions and nature, ascending the age-old anthropocentric conceptions of nature as a resource for exploitation. The sculptures by Bordalo illustrate this philosophy, as the disposed objects are refined with new value and purpose through them, which indirectly challenges the concept of waste as something worthless or unneeded. Additionally, Bordalo’s works correspond to the headings of environmental justice, which grasps the disparity between environmentally degraded and unprivileged communities. However, the artist’s creative power of transforming waste into meaningful artistic products shows the wide-scale oppression that is always the cause of this concentration of waste, pollution, and environmental hazards in marginalized areas, which are mostly the first victims of our increased consumption.
Motivations and Social Impact
The aesthetic and conceptual aspects of Bordalo’s art are attractive, but it is also crucial to realize that underlying his work are wide-reaching motivations and societal outcomes beyond the aesthetic. Bordalo says that his work is an action of the question of “the materialistic and greedy society of which he (himself) is also part.” The artist carries his agency by using waste as the primary material and elucidates the invalid system that puts the communities with the lowest social status at the forefront of environmental degradation. Those installations’ social component is strengthened as community engagement and environmental education tools. Blending his art into the cities, he makes it possible for all kinds of people to acknowledge the waste problem and its cumulative effect on nature. Such installations may provoke the practice of more sustainable actions and generate more awareness of the valued essence of materials, which are usually neglected without proper thought.
Conclusion
Artur Bordalo’s act of installing recycled art may be viewed as an insightful and strong form of ecological activism, where he reveals and rebukes perceptions of waste and claims. The non-traditional way of expressing himself through art is one in which transformation is made possible. Bordalo gives new life to discarded materials; through the process, he creates fascinating art and critically examines socially undesirable throwaway culture from an ecological point of view. This artist cuts found objects or recycled materials into different shapes and forms, and her work challenges the outdated concept of value and worth by inciting viewers to reimagine the concealed potential in the things that are usually thrown away. The artist’s work is not just related to eco-critic and environmental justice, which mainly promotes preserving natural resources and fairness. He does his best to formulate the concepts of sustainable and equitable interaction with the environment. Through his work, the artist merely puts narratives and histories to waste; hence, the art itself highlights the interdependence between the consumption patterns of the world and the far-reaching impacts on marginalized communities and ecosystems. Finally, sculptures made of trash help drive home the point of the shared obligation to look at environmental issues and take action. The idea that the desire for new items enslaves a consumer and cannot make an intelligent purchase is a topic in his works and a powerful means of influencing audiences to see things differently and escape consumerism’s influence. Today, the world is battling with over-consumption, pollution, and toxicity. Therefore, the art of Bordalo represents an emblem of faith that reminds us of the capability of residing in discarded materials to create beauty, ingenuity, and activism.
References
“About.” Bordaloii, (2022). https://www.bordaloii.com/about.
Boldrick, Stacy. “Trash as Trash as Art: Reflections on the Preservation and Destruction of Waste in Artistic Practice.” NANO: New American Notes Online, no. 7 (2015). https://search.proquest.com/openview/427cda5ddeada1f91a79c62dd41a14b5/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=4476954.
Kikuchi, Ryunosuke. “Multidisciplinary View on the Link of Environmental Activism with Art Creation-a Case Study of Recycled (Junk) Art.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART & DESIGN 7, no. 1 (2023): 67–74.
Seriff, Suzanne. “Recycled, Re-Seen: Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap.” African Arts 29, no. 4 (1996): 42.
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