Styrofoam
Introduction
Ubiquitous in our culture, styrofoam is used to insulate buildings, package computers and other consumer products, and produce picnic coolers and containers for fast food and take-out. For decades, artists have employed styrofoam in the making of models and molds for casting. Today, however, more and more of them are exploring it as a primary material or a subject in its own right, using it in new and ingenious ways to create sculpture, paintings, photographs, and installations. Taking advantage of styrofoam’s lightness and cheapness, as well as the ease with which it can be shaped, artists are carving into it, molding it, casting from it, and assembling it into entirely new forms and images. A number of artists re-use pre-existing elements that they find unexpectedly in the course of their daily activities, whereas others start with large industrial sheets.
Styrofoam is, in fact, a trademarked name applied to extruded polystyrene foam products manufactured by the Dow Chemical Company and identified by their distinctive shade of blue. Natural plant-based polystyrene was discovered in Germany in 1839 but was not developed for commercial use until the 1930s. As far as common American usage is concerned, the word styrofoam has come to mean any brand or form of polystyrene foam. Because it is neither biodegradable nor cost effective to recycle, styrofoam carries a generally negative connotation. However, because its use as insulation reduces energy requirements to heat and cool buildings, styrofoam also has a beneficial effect on the environment.
The artists presented in this exhibition span several generations, and their work varies considerably in style, form, and content. They all, however, transform lowly styrofoam into objects of singular artistic value while maintaining the material’s distinct characteristics. Running the gamut from great humor and wit to more sober visions of upheaval and disaster, their works open our eyes to the richness of possibilities this mundane source offers. In the process, they raise our consciousness about the world around us as well
Judith Tannenbaum
Exhibition images
