Series of paintings, 2022
Wood ash and walnut oil on canvas (30×40 cm) in wooden case (40×51 cm)
At Ground Zero, ArtRooms Moravany, Moravany nad Váhom, Slovakia, 2022
Slow Painting, Gallery Tyko, Nurmes, Finland, 2023
Small pieces of microplastics in the ocean are sometimes poetically called “mermaid’s tears”. The impetus behind the series of paintings is a new type of rock called plastiglomerate. It is the result of melted plastic waste mixed with sedimentary grains, fragments of basaltic lava and organic debris such as seashells. Plastiglomarate was first first found at Kamilo Beach in Hawaii, and the term was coined by geologist Patricia Corcoran and sculptor Kelly Jazvac in 2012. Plastiglomerates are now forming a new type of sedimentary layers and can be considered as marking the zero point of the Anthropocene epoch.
The paintings connect with archaeological imagination, as the artist, scientist and activist Pam Longobardi writes: “Plastic objects are the cultural archeology of our time, the future oil storage and the future fossils of the Anthropocene”.
The visual basis for the paintings stems from layering and merging sources such as photographs of collected plastic waste, images of found stones and images of everyday plastic objects in online stores. Each element intertwines and connects to another like sedimentary fragments. As in fossils, some visual elements remain recognizable in the mass, directly reflecting their origin.
The monochromatic colour scale of the paintings comes from wood ash I collect to use as pigment for painting materials. Mermaid’s Tears is related to my considerations in recent years about waste production as a result of artistic practice, specifically working in a painter’s studio. At the same time, it reflects my effort to limit the use of materials like acrylic paints. This transformation is challenging and is related to wider efforts to reduce the use of plastics in everyday life.
Mermaid’s Tears 1, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Mermaid’s Tears 2, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Mermaid’s Tears 3, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Mermaid’s Tears 4, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Mermaid’s Tears 5, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Mermaid’s Tears 6, ash and white pigment with walnut oil on cotton duck, 40×30 cm, 2022
Installation view at Galleria Tyko, Finland, 2023
Installation view at Galleria Tyko, Finland, 2023