Polystyrene Towers

2019

Polystyrene is a material that we as a society discard and dispose of without even a moment to think about and reflect on the time involved to have this material in front of us. From the oil taking millions of years to form,  it is then turned into a polymer that is transported, formed and used as packaging, arriving in our homes encasing valued electronic goods. We value and treasure the objects that the polystyrene is protecting, yet ironically the polystyrene will outlast any electronic good that it is packaged with. 500 years is the minimum time needed for polystyrene to start breaking down, and even then it will not fully disappear.

These concepts were really interesting to me and to play with a material that conventionally is not worth anything and to take the characteristics of a highly valued art form such as painting and the colours of gold, silver and copper that are also tied up as being things of value was for me a great contrast. Through the materials of acrylic paint, spray paint and gilding sheets, these have interacted with the polystyrene surface in unexpected and thought provoking ways. They have now been transported into the world of worth and value, dominating attention, compared to how they had been treated prior to my work on them. 

I hope this work encourages people to stop, think and to try and work out what lies beneath, with a send of wonder and amazement when they do.