A.R.T.At ypical Recycling Today

N e w F o r m a tA.R.T.

18

Nº18JA

NUARY

­MARC

H2012

­USA:

3,50$

­CAN:3

,40$c

ad­UK

:4,10£ Robert Bradford'sJunk Art

Roy Lichtenstein thetimeless Pop Artinspiration

DIY : Your Tetra Pack coin purse

UrbanGreen Art :Gardening Guerillaand Green Graffiti

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EDITORIAL

A.R.T

BECAUSE WE DEFINITELY THINK THAT BEING ECO-

FRIENDLY CAN BE FUNNY AND IT IS EVEN

BECOMING FASHIONBLE, IT IS MORE THAN EVER

IMPORTANT TO START RECYCLING! !

SPRING IS ALMOST HERE AND MANY OF US ARE

ALREADY THINKING IN THE HUGE SPRING

CLEANING COMING! THIS TIME, THINK TWICE

BEFORE THROWING AWAY YOUR STUFF! ALMOST

EVERYTHING CAN BE TURN INTO A NEW OBJECT,

AN MORE THAN THAT, AN ORIGINAL AND FULL OF

SENTIMENTAL VALUE.

MUCH BETTER THAN BUYING A STANDARDIZED

OBJECT IN A CHAIN RETAILER! FOR SOME IDEAS

CHECK OUT OUR MONTHLY DO IT YOURSELF AND

WEBSITES SECTION WERE WILL GIVE YOU SOME

TIPS! OUR TEAM HAVE CAREFULLY SELECTED THE

BEST SOURCE FOR TUTORIALS AND INSPIRATION!

RECYCLING IS NOT ONLY MATERIAL BUT ALSO

IDEOLOGICAL. AS EVERY MONTH WE HAVE CHOSEN

AN OLDER ARTIST AND A CONTEMPORARY ONE,

ANALZING THE CURRENT TRENDS IN ART.

THIS MONTH, ROY LICHTENSTEIN ONE OF THE

KING OF POP ART WILL BE OUR GUEST. NEXT TO

HIM, A TERRIFIC ARTIST: ROBERT BRADFORD WHO

WILL BRING US BACK TO CHILDHOOD WITH HIS

STATUES MADE OF TOYS!

FINALLY, WE WILL TRAVEL TO THE TRENDIEST

MEGALOPOLIS WHERE STREET ARTIST HAVE

DISCOVER THE WAY OF MIXING GRAFFITY AND ECO-

FRIENDLY TECHNIQUES!

OF COURSE ,MANY OTHERS FEATURES ARE

WAITING FOR YOU INSIDE, WITH MORE CULTURE

AND GREEN CONCERN!

DO NO WAIT ANY LONGER! ENJOY YOUR

READING.. . .

AND GOOD SPRING CLEANING!

ATYPICAL RECYCLING TODAY ­ MARCH 2012

CLARA FRAIZYCh ief Editor

©ROY LICHTENSTEIN, As I Opened FireSource: Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Cover : ©Robert BRADFORD ,Foo Foo 2

SPECIAL FEATURES COMMENTS, VIDEOS:MUCH MORE ON OUR WEBSITEWWW.ART­MAGAZINE.COM

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

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CONTENT

A.R.T

Table of ContentsINSPIRATIONRoy Lichtenstein 5Robert Bradford 8NEWSRecycling Over the World 10The Monthly Arty Recycling Websites 11Do It Yourself 12Shopping 13AROUND THE WORLDGreen Urban Art 16

© Anna Garforth

GREEN GRAFFITIS FROM PAGE 16

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ROY LICHTENSTEIN was born in New Yorkinto an upper­middle­class Jewish New York Cityfamily. After graduation from Franklin, Lichtensteinenrolled in summer classes at the Art StudentsLeague of New York, where he worked under thetutelage of Reginald Marsh, a famous Americanpaintor. After serving in the army during World WarII, he returned to studies in Ohio under thesupervision of one of his teachers, Hoyt L. Sherman,who is widely regarded to have had a significantimpact on his future work (Lichtenstein would latername a new studio he funded at OSU as the Hoyt L.Sherman Studio Art Center). Lichtenstein enteredthe graduate program at Ohio State and was hired asan art instructor, a post he held on and off for thenext ten years. He then moved to New York wherehis career took off.

Favoring the old­fashioned comic strip assubject matter, Lichtenstein produced hard­edged,precise compositions that documented while it

parodied often in atongue­in­cheekhumorous manner.His work washeavily influencedby both popularadvertising and thecomic book style.He described PopArt as, "not'American' paintingbut actuallyindustrial painting".Lichtenstein used oil and Magna paint in hisbest known works, such as Drowning Girl(1963), which was appropriated from the leadstory in DC Comics' Secret Hearts #83.(Drowning Girl now hangs in the Museum ofModern Art, New York.)Also featuring thick outlines, bold colors andBen­Day dots to represent certain colors, as ifcreated by photographic reproduction.Lichtenstein would say of his own work:Abstract Expressionists "put things down on thecanvas and responded to what they had done, tothe color positions and sizes. My style lookscompletely different, but the nature of puttingdown lines pretty much is the same; mine justdon't come out looking calligraphic, likePollock's or Kline's."Roy Lichtenstein played a critical role insubverting the skeptical view of commercialstyles and subjects established by the AbstractExpressionists. By embracing "low" art such ascomic books and popular illustration,

RR OO YYLL II CC HH TT EE NN SS TT EE II NN

Roy LichtensteinROY LICHTENSTEIN (OCTOBER 27, 1 923 – SEPTEMBER 29, 1 997) WAS A

PROMINENT AMERICAN POP ARTIST. DURING THE 1 960S HIS PAINTINGS

WERE EXHIBITED AT THE LEO CASTELLI GALLERY IN NEW YORK CITY AND

ALONG WITH ANDY WARHOL, JASPER JOHNS, JAMES ROSENQUIST AND

OTHERS HE BECAME A LEADING FIGURE IN THE NEW ART MOVEMENT. HIS

WORK DEFINED THE BASIC PREMISE OF POP ART BETTER THAN ANY OTHER

THROUGH PARODY. HE HAS BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR MANY

ARTISTS TODAY, BUT ALSO USED AS A MAIN PATTERN FOR RECYCLED

OBJECTS DUE TO HIS COLORS AND STORIES.

OO nn ee CC ee nn TT rr aa ll FF ii gg uu rr ee oo ff PP oo pp AA rr tt

"(...)My style lookscompletely

different, but thenature of puttingdown lines prettymuch is the same;

mine just don'tcome out lookingcalligraphic, like

Pollock's orKline's."

Drowning Girl, 1963

Girl in Bath, 1963

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Whaam! (1963) by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. It is widely regarded as one of his finest and most notable works. It follows thecomic strip­based themes of some of his previous paintings. The painting, a diptych, is large in scale, measuring 1.7 x 4.0 m (5 ft7 in x 13 ft 4 in).

To learn more about the artist:

http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/And give your opinion on our website

www.art­magazine.com

Lichtenstein became one of the most importantfigures in the Pop Art movement. His work iseasily recognizablee. He had a prolific andsomewhat eclectic career that drew from Cubism,Surrealism, and Expressionism. But it is his re­imagining of popular culture through the lens oftraditional art history that has remained aconsiderable influence to later generations ofartists, as Pop Art went on to significantly informPostmodernism.LICHENSTEIN : Influenced andInfluencing

Art had carried references to popularculture throughout the 20th century, but inLichtenstein's works the styles, subject matter,and techniques of reproduction, common inpopular culture appeared to dominate the artentirely. This marked a major shift away fromAbstract Expressionism, whose often tragicthemes were though to well up from the souls ofthe artists: Lichtenstein's inspirations came fromthe culture at large, and suggested little of theartist's individual feelings.

Although, in the early 1960s, Lichtensteinwas often casually accused of merely copying hispictures from cartoons, his method involvedsome considerable alteration of the sourceimages. The extent of those changes, and the

artist's rationale for introducing them, has longbeen central to discussions of his work, as itwould seem to indicate whether he was interestedabove all in While his paintings of cartoons andcomics are producing pleasing, artisticcompositions, or in shocking his viewers with thegarish impact of popular culture.

Lichtenstein's emphasis on methods ofmechanical reproduction ­ particularly throughhis signature use of Ben Day dots ­ highlightedone of the central lessons of Pop art, that allforms of communication, all messages, arefiltered through codes or languages. Arguably, helearned his appreciation of the value of codesfrom his early work, which drew on an eclecticrange of modern painting. This appreciation mayalso have later encouraged him to make workinspired by masterpieces of modern art: in theseworks he argued that high art and popular wereno different, both rely on code.Photos courtesy of The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

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© Robert Bradford

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Robert BRADFORD

Robert started his artistic career as apainter and film maker. After 5 years in the US,where he exhibited his paintings widely, hereturned to the UK and decided to specialize insculpture. Since 2004, he has become particularlywell known for his large imaginative sculptureswhich use discarded and recycled plastic items,mainly toys but also everyday objects such ascombs, buttons and clothes pegs. “Toys ARE acolorful version of everyday life includingfantasy life, love life, work life, even spirituallife, so pretty much everything can be mentioned/referred to/ communicated about using them.New fads and fancies come and go – a wholecultural and anti­cultural history exists withinthem, waiting to be explored/ exploited. It tookme three years of false starts to find the mostflexible construction method and another year tostart doing it well so it has been no ‘instantfix’.”Contrary to some reports, he’s not a self­taught artist who tinkered in his shed one day andsuddenly decided to create something out of hiskids’ discarded toys. He is a London­born andU.K. and U.S.­trained visual artist who, likemany artists, also had another career on the side.His was that of a psychotherapist.

In 2002, he started to consider thepossibilities that his children’s forgotten toyscould have as part of something bigger.Bradford says he likes the idea that theplastic pieces have a history, some unknownpast, and that they also pass on a “cultural”history as each of the pieces represents apoint in time. Recycling is not his primaryconcern, but each sculpture certainly keepsquite a few pieces from becoming landfill.Some of the sculptures contain pieces fromup to 3,000 toys and sell for £12,000(US$19,000)His recycled art is collected worldwide byprivate galleries, institutions and museumslike Ripley's Believe it or not. RobertBradford now lives quietly with his family inbeautiful North Cornwall when he's notfeverishly creating or exhibiting his workaround the world.

INTERVIEWWell, Robert, how did everything start?Everything started on the dining room table andin the hallway when I was small, I have alwayspainted and built things – masks, skulls, brickcities, racetracks – and I managed to get 8 yearsof Art School before having to do a proper job!My use of toys started about five years ago. Ihave always liked using found materials withtheir own history like books, magazines, oldwood, tree waste etc. and toys were just anextension of these things. I was in the studio oneday where an old toy box was stored; the simplethought that came to me was that if I could find away of joining lots of them together they wouldmake a wonderful larger form collectively. I likedthe huge variety of shapes and colours that werecontained within the box I was staring into and Iliked the random juxtapositions of types ofcontent. It triggered off many ideas andpossibilities...

© Robert Bradford

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He is currently exposing in NDI Gallery,created to promote public awareness ofquality Recycled Art and Artists.NDI GALLERYGuildhill Avenue,Bournemouth BH6 3EY (England)http://www.ndigallery.com

How did you decide to use toys as the mainelement of your creations?Toys are a colourful version of everyday lifeincluding fantasy life, love life, work life, evenspiritual life, so pretty much everything can bementioned/ referred to/ communicated aboutusing them. A whole cultural and anti­culturalhistory exists within them, waiting to beexplored. Like most series, the first couple ofpieces were made as experiments, to see if theidea could actually work in tangible reality andof course one thing led to another – but it tookme three years of false starts to find the mostflexible construction method and another year tostart doing it well so it has been no ‘instant fix’.Because I have been using them for so long, I cantend to forget what they actually are and justthink “What have I got that could possibly fitthere – blue would be ideal”, decision makinggoes on like that. And then ‘Oh it’s a gun, wouldthat be O.K. content wise”.What is the importance of choosing alreadyused materials, that for some people it couldbe trash, in your creations?I am working on the edge of nice/ nasty, trashy/valuable, good taste/ bad taste etc. History ingeneral is not a primary interest of mine but I likeit to appear by default in my work and like thefeel of humans having been in contact with thepieces already as long as they have had a goodwash, the toys I mean not the humans...Tell us something about your future projects.In my studio at the moment there are variousthings ‘waiting’... a tiger woman, a man in a suit,various angel heads with cropped hair parkednear some airplane wings, a Sniffer dog armatureor two, a half started glitter painting that may justget ROBERT BRADFORD ROBERTBRADFORD ROBERT BRADFORD textedonto it… there are a few flat airplanes hangingabout too. I have just sold three dogs in Paris and

there are not many left in the gallerie. There is asoft toy Tiger Skin Rug started and a sofa preparedfor soft toys too. There is a soft toy dogcommission outstanding... and several magazinesreal and online wanting imagery. My website needsupdating and I have a small film to shoot foreducational T.V. (not to mention Blue Peter). Thereare several art fairs coming up and some exhibitionoffers that I need to respond to.If you asked me again in a few weeks I may be abit clearer as to what is next… they all look like alot of fun and any or all feel exciting. I would liketo know what any of them would look likecompleted… and of course there is the rest of lifethat is not art!Interview by Mark Stuart

© Robert Bradford

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NEWS

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RECYCLING OVER THE WORLD

- On average every person in

the UK throws away their own

body weight in rubbish every

seven weeks.

- Every UK household

produces over one tonne of

rubbish every year.

- Every eight months the UK

produces enough waste to fi l l

Lake Windermere.

- I t is estimated that there are

90 mil l ion redundant mobile

phones in the UK.

- Once an aluminium can is

recycled it can be part of new

can within six weeks. I f al l the

aluminium cans sold in the UK

were recycled, there would be

1 4 mil l ion fewer ful l dustbins

each year.

The last time the EPA

reported the national

recycling figures was in 2011

for 243 mil l ion tons of trash

generated:

- 82 mil l ion tons composted

or recycled for recovery rate

of 33.8 %

- 4% of office-type paper

recovered

- 60% of yard trimmings

recovered

- 34.5% of metals recycled

- 7 mil l ion tons of metals

recycled reduced greenhouse

gas emissions at equivalent

of removing 5 mil l ion cars

from road for one year.

In 2011 , Canadian

households produced 1 3.4

mil l ion tonnes of waste

- Almost 3/4 of this was

sent for disposal

- Residential waste

increased by 2.1 mil l ion

tonnes over 4 years

- Canadians produce 41 8

kg of waste per person as of

2004

- 3.6 mil l ion tonnes of the

1 3.4 mil l ion tonnes of waste

went to recycling

REMEMBERRECYCLING ONE GLASS BOTTLE SAVES ENOUGH ENERGY

TO POWER A COLOUR TV FOR 1 5 MINUTES.GLASS WILL NOT

DECOMPOSE IN LANDFILL BUT CAN BE RECYCLING WITHOUT

LOSS OF PURITY.

70% LESS ENERGY IS REQUIRED TO RECYCLE PAPER THAN

MAKING IT FROM RAW MATERIALS

THE ENERGY SAVED BY RECYCLING ONE PLASTIC BOTTLEWILL POWER A 60W LIGHT BULB FOR SIX HOURS.

70% LESS ENERGY IS REQUIRED TO RECYCLE PAPER

COMPARED WITH MAKING IT FROM RAW MATERIALS.

SO KEEP RECYCLING!

Environmental and RecyclingStatistics For Our WorldwideViewers in 2012UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM CANADA

REuse, REcycle and REduce our materials and

products consumption in order to decrease our

footprint. Learn More About Statistic and

Recycling on our Website

www.art­magazine.com

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THE MONTHLY ARTY RECYCLING WEBSITES

The goal of Recyclart.org is to bring you good products that are madefrom recycling, reusing, upcycling, etc. They prefer to give youinspiration through pictures and the links where you can find moreinformations. The goal is to be a kind of portfolio based on ideas inwhich you can brainstorm your sustainability creativity.Possibilty ofentering in this Re­something frame taking 2 minutes to propose youtidea, using “contribute page “. After some contributions you cancontact them and they will create you an author account that allows youto post directly on Recyclart. http://www.recyclart.org/

Born in 2002, Global Inheritance is a non­profit organization thatdevelops creative, cause­based campaigns to educate individuals aboutissues that affect us globally.Their unique programs focus on the powerof interactivity to communicate ideas that push for progressive socialchange by empowering millions of individuals at festivals, events,workplaces and schools throughout the world.By employing technology, the arts, and experiential learning, GlobalInheritance reinvents activism by inspiring people from every walk oflife to act responsibly and become forward­thinking leaders within theircommunity. http://www.globalinheritance.org/

For four years now, they have covered over 900 items and had over 14,000suggestions of ways to reuse, repurpose or recycle things that wouldotherwise go in the bin. They have covered items from around the home,office and garden, things for particularly hobbies or sports, and randombits of technology that have broken or are just out of date. You can alsoadd your own ideas! They have been mentioned all over the placeincluding a number of national newspapers and magazine in the UK(including The Times, The Telegraph and the Guardian), and oninternational green & craft websites including TreeHugger,ApartmentTheory and Craftzine. Now on our A.R.T Magazine!http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/

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NEWS

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DO IT YOURSELFYourTetra Pack Coin PurseFEELING CREATIVE? NOTHING’S MORE ECO-FRIENDLY THAN TRANSFORMING JUNK HEADED TO THE LANDFILL

INTO SOMETHING USEFUL, OR USING EVERYDAY ITEMS TO CREATE CLEAN, GREEN ENERGY. IF YOU’VE GOT

THINGS LIKE PLASTIC BAGS, FLOPPY DISKS, CARDBOARD AND OLD TIRES LAYING AROUND, YOU CAN USE OUR

ECO-DIY TUTORIALS AND PROJECT EXAMPLES TO MAKE THINGS LIKE SHOES, FURNITURE, HANDBAGS AND

EVEN GREENHOUSES.

Tetra Pak hasbeen committedto recycling sincethe mid 1980s,introducing arecycling programfor its cartons inCanada as early

as 1990. In 2000, Tetra Pak invested Bt20m(€500,000) in Southeast Asia's first recyclingplant for aseptic packages, in Thailand.Recycling of the aseptic packages has indeedbeen one of Tetra Pak's big challenges Since theaseptic packages contain different layers ofplastic and aluminium in addition to raw paper,they cannot be recycled as "normal" paper waste,but need to go to special recycling units forseparation of the different materials. Onceseparated, the aseptic carton results in aluminiumand pure paraffin which can be used in industry.Even without separating the carton materials,however, the aseptic carton can be reused, a TetraPak spokesman said, for example in engineeringequipment. In 2010 30 billion used Tetra Pakcarton packages were recycled, a doubling since2002.The company stated that it aims to helpdouble the rate of recycling in the next ten years,something that will require an engagement withinthe whole recycling chain. As per 2011, 20 % ofTetra Pak cartons are recycled globally, withcountries like Belgium, Germany, Spain andNorway showing local recycling rates of over50%.To increase the level of recycling and meetthe targets, Tetra Pak has engaged in drivingrecycling activities such as facilitating thedevelopment of collection schemes, launch newrecycling technologies and raise the awarenessabout recycling and sustainability. Used Tetra

People have never given much thought

to recycling projects including used

Tetrapaks, but the resourceful people at

A.R.T have come up with this cool coin

purse made of a used Tetrapak container

or two, with ful l instructions so that you

can make one too. Or make a few and

give them to your friends.

How to make a tetrapack wallet:­ cut the top and bottom,

make a flap on one side,­ fold in half,­ tape the middle edges,

and­ stick a bit of velcro to

close the flap, or use anelastic band

Post your pictures on our website

and comment our other tutorials!

www. art­magazine.com

Pak packages have been used as constructionmaterial in different design projects, with varyingresults .Tetrapak containers have been the bane ofrecyclers lives for quite some time. It’s onlyrecently that we’re once again able to recyclethem in the UK, and many supermarket car parksnow play host to Tetrapak banks where you candeposit your used Tetrapak type containers.Source: cutoutandkeep.net

Source: en.espritcabane.com

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Silvia ZacchelloShe universal ly connects people with her storyboard furniture which is available either

onl ine or at al l good furniture stores in Venice and Milan. Silvia Zacchello’s work is based

on the art of recycling and restoring furniture and vintage objects, particularly chairs.

Some objects recall images and parts of images reflecting works by Andy Warhol, Roy

Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Keith Haring, nevertheless; they are to be considered copies

and not authentic reproductions by the above-mentioned artists.

To learn more: http://www.silviazacchello.com

BorboneseIn celebration of its first centenary, the I tal ian

luxury brand collaborated with Roy Lichtenstein

Foundation to create a new project: the Art

Bags (picture), twelve bags produced in l imited

edition that reproduces some of the pop artist’s

masterpieces shown at the exhibition at

the Triennale di Milano. Lisa Perry Madison

Avenue is unfortunately the only boutique in the

US to carry this col lection.

After LichtensteinSHOPPING

©Silvia Zacchello

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AROUND THE WORLD

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AROUND THE WORLD

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Source: throughagreenlens.com© Edina Todoki

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Urban Green ArtURBAN ART IS A TERM WHICH GAINED POPULARITY IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURY. IT WAS USED MAINLY BY THE

ART ESTABLISHMENT TO ENCOMPASS ART AND ARTISTS WHO WERE ORIGINALLY INVOLVED IN STREET AND

GRAFFITI ART. WITH THE GROWING CONCERNING ECO-FRIENDLY WAYS OF EXPRESSION, IT WAS NECESSARY TO

FIND A ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL MATERIALS. THE GREEN URBAN ART WAS BORN : AN ENVIRONMENTALLY

FRIENDLY FORM OF OUTDOOR ART (OR ADVERTISING). THE IDEA IS TO LEAVE THE PLACE WHERE THE ART

OCCURS GREENER THAN PRIOR TO THE ART.

EVEN IF THE MOST FAMOUS IS THE "GREEN GRAFFITI", OTHER FORMS OR GREEN URBAN ART ARE

DEVELOPPING IN OUR MEGALOPOLIS. AN OVERVIEW OF THESE NEWS TRENDY FORMS OF ART.

Guerrilla GardeningFromMelbourne toMontreal,from CalgarytoCamberwell,anundergroundurban

movement has grown through the world’s cities –sowing the seeds of subversive environmentalpro­activism in the most beneficent of ways,brightening up our public spaces with the powerof plants, and allowing flowers to flourish whereotherwise there would be only grey; in short,taking disused pieces of land that are going towaste and greening them up for the good. Thename of this movement? Guerrilla gardening.Guerrilla gardening is gardening on land that thegardeners do not have legal right to use, often anabandoned site or area not cared for by anyone. Itencompasses a very diverse range of people andmotivations, from the enthusiastic gardener whospills over their legal boundaries to the highlypolitical gardener who seeks to provoke changethrough direct action. The land that is guerrillagardened is usually abandoned or neglected by itslegal owner. That land is used by guerrillagardeners to raise plants, frequently focusing onfood crops or plants intended to beautify an area.This practice has implications for land rights andland reform; it promotes re­consideration of landownership in order to reclaim land from

perceived neglect or misuse and assign a newpurpose to it.Some guerrilla gardeners carry out their actions atnight, in relative secrecy, to sow and tend a newvegetable patch or flower garden in an effort to makethe area of use and/or more attractive. Some gardenat more visible hours to be seen by their community.It has grown into a form of proactive activism or pro­activism.The earliest recorded use of the term guerrillagardening was by Liz Christy and her GreenGuerrilla group in 1973 in the Bowery Houston areaof New York. They transformed a derelict private lotinto a garden.[1] The space is still cared for byvolunteers but now enjoys the protection of the city'sparks department. Two celebrated guerrilla gardeners,active prior to the coining of the term, were GerrardWinstanley, of the Diggers in Surrey, England (1649),and John "Appleseed" Chapman in Ohio, USA(1801).Guerilla gardening takes place in many parts of theworld ­ more than thirty countries are documented[2]and evidence can be found online in numerous

Source: milycracra.over­blog.com

Source : maggiejeans.com

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AROUND THE WORLD

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Green Graffiti look very similar to traditional onesbut a closer look makes us discover a whole vegetalworld on the wall.Originally created by horticulturists keen to add

Green Graffiti

interest to their garden designs,the recipe with moss can beused as an environmentally­friendly alternative to spray paintand has been adopted bycontemporary street artist.

There has been much debatesurrounding the idea of graffitiart. For some, it is blatantdisregard for our cityscapes, andfor those with a more acuteaesthetic eye, it is a formexpression that serves a greatersocial purpose. Guerrilla artistshave found firm footing inmainstream culture, morenotably Banksy, who notoriouslyused stencil art and life­sizesculptures to project socialcommentaries in London’spublic spaces. But what happenswhen you throw in anenvironmentally­driven motiveinto the mix? Is it still illegal if itis ‘green’ graffiti?I came across Mosstika UrbanGreenery, an eco­minded

collective based in New York City, dedicated tocreating innovative ways of merging art andnature within our urban centers. Upon furtherreading, I found myself forming a ratherfavourable view of the burgeoning ‘green’ graffitimovement. Founder Edina Tokodi, whose publicart installations are firmly rooted ingreen guerrilla tactics, is very much a forerunnerfor sustainable art expression; as she goes on toexplain:“I think that our distance from nature is already acliché. City dwellers often have no relationshipwith animals or greenery. As a public artist I feela sense of duty to draw attention to deficienciesin our everyday life”And that she does. Her moss installations offer afresh perspective, adding colour and life to ourotherwise mundane city surfaces. Tokodi’s quirkymoss patches, easily spotted around the streets of

Is It Illegal ?

guerrilla gardening socialnetworking groups and in theCommunity pages ofGuerrillaGardening.orgThe term guerrilla gardening isapplied by some quite loosely todescribe different forms of radicalgardening. This includes gardeningas an entirely political gesture ratherthan one with genuine horticulturalambition, such as the London MayDay protest in 2000, when no longterm garden was expected to takeroot.The term bewildering has been usedas a synonym for guerrilla gardeningby Australian gardener BobCrombie.Toxicity risksThere are some health risks toforaging or planting edible plantsnear toxic waste sites and roads withheavy traffic due to chemical runoffthat gets absorbed by the roots. Toxicplants tend to grow on toxic land.Some scientists have learned thatcertain types of plants absorb toxinsfrom the soil without dying and canthus be used as a mechanism to reduce chemicalground pollution. Guerrilla gardening could beused as a way to take independent action to cleanup one's community, but eating a toxin­absorbentplant will deposit those toxins in the body. Urbanforagers face similar health risks in this manner.Care should be taken to not eat plants that growin areas where there is known chemicalcontamination or water pollution. Plants thatgrow on the side of high­traffic roads should alsonot be eaten because of automobile fluid runoff.

Source: herbgardendesign.co.uk

Source:http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

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AROUND THE WORLD

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Brooklyn, characteristically takeupon animal­inspired shapes.She uses the city as her canvas,painting atop barren constructionwalls and telephone booths tocreate these mini greensanctuaries in the mostunexpected places. And does soquite brilliantly too, I might add.

Similarly to Tokodi’s MosstikaUrban Greenery, London­basedenvironmental artist AnnaGarforth takes upon similarvalues of sustainability. Her firstmoss art project, Sporeborne,incorporates typography art with

urban ecology in a delightfuleco­project that uses onlynatural and organic materials.Moss paint, a viable alternativeto toxic paints or sprays, presenta more sustainable means ofcreating art, one which has beenadopted by many green graffitiartists.With the works of Garforth andTokodi in mind, there is aglaring difference betweengraffiti and guerrilla gardeninginitiatives, as highlighted above.Graffiti, for one, has beencriticized for depreciating anddevaluing urban landscapes,

Street artist Edina Tokodi puts up two polar bear figures in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She forms the shapes at home from smallsheets of moss before hitting the streets. (Photo courtesy of Edina Tokodi)

where else, ‘green’ graffitiforges a strong connectionbetween the urban neighborhoodand nature. It does not defacepublic property, and therefore,should not be classified as illegalart in any shape or form.Focus On:EDINA TODOKIEco­minded street artist EdinaTokodi is putting a new spin ongreen guerilla tactics in thetrendy art enclave ofWilliamsburg, Brooklyn.Tokodi’s site­specific mossinstallations of prancing animal

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You wil l need a blender to make the mixture and

if you plan to grow your moss outdoors you wil l

also need a seed tray fi l led with compost.

Several clumps of moss

1 pot of natural yoghurt or 1 2oz buttermilk

(experiment to see which works best)

1 /2 teaspoon of sugar

Plastic pot (with a l id)

Paint brush

Spray-mister

Seemingly, getting the recipe to work can be

quite difficult, the location and weather

conditions need to be spot on. Moss thrives

best in damp areas so if you have to grow it

indoors make sure you spray it with water

frequently. As soon as it starts to grow,

transplant it in your chosen location and watch

your graffiti art spread

figures and camouflage outgrowths are thetalk of a local urban neighborhood typicallyaccustomed to gallery hype and commercialreal estate take­overs. Unlike the market­driven art featured in sterile, white boxgalleries, the work of Tokodi is meant to betouched, felt, and in turn touch you in theplayful ways that her animated installationscall to mind a more familiar, environmentallyfriendly state in the barren patches of urbanexistence.ANNA GADFORTHconsidering herself an urban land artist, annagarforth from the UK integrates her interestin urban ecology and sustainability throughher creative practice. from moss collecting,wild city foraging to hunting downundomesticated areas of the urban forests inher neighbourhood,these activities have driven her to discoverand understand more about her naturalsurroundingand express this passion through thefollowing projects.Anna Garforth is currently featured in the

RECIPE

international bi­monthlygraphic designpublicationIdN(http://idnworld.com/) aspart of the 'eco graphics'issue which looks at theworks of designersand ways in which they seekto change consumerbehaviour and attitudesabout the environment.

© Anna Garforth

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