October 28, 2002
styrogami - sculpture for the next millennia
Boston Globe | Arts / Carving out a unique niche
"Consider the man who, for the past 20 years, has been carving small sculptures out of used and unused coffee cups made of foam polystyrene, referred to by most of us, Vitali included, as styrofoam."
(From The Obscure Store and via Stanley.)
"Styrogami is sculpture evolved from mentally extrapolating the trash and waste proliferation and combining the exponential growth of world population while 
factoring in rain forest depletion rates with due consideration given to the half-life of stored nuclear waste and the destruction potential inherent in modern day weaponry. I have come up with the visionary concept that we may indeed be presently and blindly basking in the glory of our final historical footnote, leaving no future generations to learn the hard lessons that the destruction of one's own planet will teach. Though I disdain the Styrofoam cup and the throwaway society it represents, Styrogami is, nonetheless, something metaphorically exquisite to admire as we walk this path to the gallows." From the gallery (?) announcement (?)
I guess it takes a person with special vision to find art in trash. This isn't any weirder than a lot of stuff people have been trying to pass off as art - some successfully, some not so successfully. All this artist has to do is exhibit one piece of "Styrogami" in an institution supported in some way with public funds and that depicts something such as Ashcroft pissing on the Laura Bush or god pissing on anything (whether it actually does or not doesn't matter - the label is everything) and he'll be the current darling of the art world - overnight.
I hope he gets lots of money and commissions.
Posted by Lee at October 28, 2002 05:59 PM