Tosser (gold), 2008. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Exhibition preview: See How You Feel…, Maddox Arts, Brooks Mews, London, January 29 – March 7 2009
As one of the most maligned inanimate objects in the world, the aesthetic qualities of the plastic bag are rarely considered. But in his latest exhibition, Berlin-based Israeli artist Dodi Reifenberg challenges our perceptions of the humble carrier by transforming it into works of art.
Ghost Clothes, 2008. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Using society’s indifference as a trigger, Reifenberg champions the “black sheep” as a symbol of outcast rejection, cutting and tearing at bags to create settings and collages in a witty, eye-opening observation of underlying waste and recycling issues.
Setting, 1999-2008. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Purple and red coloured bags are tied together to form a dress and thick, crumpled silver and gold examples bear more resemblance to fashionable handbags than their disposable poor relations.
HG Wells, 2008. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Walter Benjamin, 2007. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Reifenberg also forms detailed mosaic portraits of figures not usually noted through throwaway mediums, including Barack Obama, HG Wells and Walter Benjamin.
Green World was made with plastic bags, wire and wood in 2003. Courtesy the artist and Maddox Arts
Green World looks like an aquatic creature or coral reef of the kind the materials it was formed with are often accused of irreparably damaging, and handfuls of light plastic bags are put to more imaginative recycled use than the usual supermarket trip when forming surprisingly attractive backs to chairs.
Open 11am-7pm Tues-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat. Call 020 7495 3101. Or visit www.maddoxarts.com.
Keep up to date with 24 Hour Museum's exhibition news, reviews and previews with iGoogle - a more personal way to use Google.com
