Plasticenic: Artmaking in a Man-Made Epoch
Plasticenic No. 12541, 2024
Archival pigment print
30x30 in (76.2x76.2cm)
Edition of 5+2AP | $1250 | inquire
Plastic as a material has long fascinated me. From the plastic toys I was obsessed with in my youth, to Styrofoam and plastic scraps as sculpting materials, to an interest in its use in industrial design and art, especially between the 1960s and 1980s, the lure was irresistible.
Roland Barthes famously described plastic as "the very idea of its infinite transformation." In Mythologies, he writes: “Plastic is the very idea of its infinite transformation; as its everyday name indicates, it is ubiquity made visible.” That observation captures the enduring fascination the material has held for me.
Yet also during my youth it became clear to me that plastic is a deeply problematic material. It hardly takes scientific training to realize that plastic packaging left in the street or in the woods won’t decompose. In the 1980s, when plastic cutting boards became popular, I imagined that each time we cut our food, we must inevitably cut tiny pieces of plastic off those boards. Where do they go? What happens to the soles of our sneakers wearing down over time? Microplastics were on my mind long before the word existed. I am surprised that it took another four decades for them to become part of the public conversation.
Plasticenic No. 10684: Orifice, 2025
Archival pigment print
Edition of 3+2AP | request price and dimensions
Rather than shunning plastic, I began to photograph it, drawn to its unexpected aesthetic and poetic qualities despite my deep reservations about the material. That contradiction — how something so visually seductive can also be so ecologically destructive — lies at the heart of this body of work. Thus I arrive at a different conclusion than Barthes, who went on to write: “It is the first magical substance which consents to be prosaic.”
Plasticenic derives its name from Plasticene, a neologism describing an era marked by the environmental and geological impact of plastics. It follows the nomenclature of geological epochs such as the Holocene — the current epoch that began 11,700 years ago — and the Anthropocene, a widely used term for the age shaped by human activity. Although neither "Anthropocene" nor "Plasticene" are formally recognized geological epochs, mounting evidence suggests that plastics are becoming embedded in sediments, forming so-called plastiglomerates (fused plastic and rock) that may one day serve as geological and temporal markers.
In my Plasticenic series, I visually meld plastic bags with organic abstract shapes to create my own ‘plastiglomerates’. Rather than illustrating a geological process, the works allow single-use plastics to infiltrate my own visual language. By elevating plastic waste to aesthetically appealing works of art, which may be read as a glorification of plastics, I seek to create a sense of ambiguity that reflects our collective inability to rein in the excesses of a convenience-driven culture built around plastic.
Plasticenic No. 688: colrabuses, 2025
Archival pigment print
Edition of 3+2AP | request price and dimensions