Art and Power

 Environmental Awareness Art

I chose to focus on environmental awareness art as it's a topic that I'm passionate about. I see a lot of people shy away from this worldwide issue, as I occasionally do as well. It's a daunting topic that few people feel empowered enough to address. The problems seem impossible to attack because they're so much bigger than us. But if we don't face these types of large issues within our world, then how could anything ever change? Of course, an individual typically doesn't have the power to change a company's or government's mind alone. However, when a million individuals team up to fight against the same issue, often changes do take effect. Environmental awareness art moves the masses in ways that words sometimes cannot. It gives people a visual to better understand environmental issues that desperately need to be addressed.

This painting is titled, The Future's in our Hands by Zoe Elizabeth Norman from the United Kingdom. She created this impactful oil painting in 2019 to address an environmental issue that she is passionate about. This artwork has become an award-winning painting. Although the original has been sold, you can currently purchase prints online. 

 In Indonesia, the equivalent of 300 football fields of rainforest is being destroyed every hour, causing mass deforestation. Leaving Indonesia to be one of the world's biggest emitters of CO2, which is actively worsening global warming. Zoe Elizabeth Norman's painting highlights the sad conditions of Indonesia as well as the Borneo Orangutan population that is currently endangered. This suffering is caused by companies such as Kellogg's, Nestlé, and Mars, which are destroying the environment in search of palm oil for their products. Animals such as orangutans, elephants, rhinos, and tigers have lost their homes due to the deforestation that was enacted by such companies. 

This art brings about a powerful environmental message. The artist hopes she can influence people with this art to avoid purchasing products containing palm oil. By doing so, we can reduce the destruction of the rainforests that remain. She says, "We need to plant trees, not destroy them if we have a chance of saving our planet for future generations"(Octopus Energy, Climate change art).

One art element that Zoe Elizabeth Norman uses to convey her powerful message is emphasis. When you look at this painting, your eyes are almost immediately directed towards the Orangutan. The strong contrast between the orange on the Orangutan and the grey trees in the background works great together to emphasize the Orangutan as the focal point. Also, the large size and middle placement of the Orangutan bring strong emphasis to the animal.

The other prominent art element I noticed in this painting is repetition. The artist's use of repetition lies within the trees we see in the background. She has created a non-uniform pattern with the use of both colors and shapes within the fires and trees. This technique unifies the piece as a whole. By doing so, she's reinforcing this aspect of her painting so her message can't be overlooked.

My personal reaction to this work is devastated but yet inspired. The artist did a great job at portraying the harsh reality of the situation occurring in Indonesia. At the same time, I think it's important to reveal a message of hope within an environmental artwork. She has done this by depicting the Orangutan holding a seed. 

It kind of reminds me of the movie, "The Lorax". In this movie, all the trees are destroyed by a big company. However, there's a single seed left that the main character, Ted, retrieves. At the end of the movie, despite the continuous harassment from another big company known as O'Hare, Ted is able to plant the seed in the middle of town. By doing so, he's brought attention to a huge environmental issue that the town's citizens were unaware of due to O'Hare covering it up. This movie shows many deep parallels to how our world functions today. This movie, along with Zoe Elizabeth Norman's painting, reminds us that even the smallest things, such as one seed, can have a big impact.

The next painting I chose is titled Last Year's Model by Stephen Beer. He created this piece in 2011 in the United Kingdom to address the mostly unseen and/or ignored impacts that overconsumption has on our world. Last Year's Model prints are currently available to purchase online for anyone to buy.

This acrylic painting sends a message that is not only directed at the consumers but also at large companies. Large companies work hard to persuade and manipulate consumers to overindulge in things that they don't necessarily need. Stephen Beer shows the impact of these actions through his art piece. He says, "Last year's model is thrown to landfill as we try to keep up with the latest trends"(Octopus Energy, Climate change art). This is not a sustainable practice. The never-ending production of the newest products, the way companies go about retrieving materials for their "latest and greatest" gadgets, and the processes that it takes to "get rid of" the old products and gadgets are causing monumental changes to our environment and to our climate. 

To create this artwork, Stephen Beer actually took images from various magazines that enable these destructive patterns of overconsumption. Sadly, he created this powerful environmental awareness piece to address a problem over 10 years ago that has gotten nothing but worse since then. I don't make this point to say his piece wasn't impactful. I actually see it as quite the opposite; if anything, his art is more powerful and impactful today than it was in 2011. We've seen more of the effects Stephen Beer was warning us about in this image. I believe, despite marketing efforts from big companies, a lot of us have stepped back from the practice of overconsumption and are trying to do better.

Two of the art elements that Stephen Beer used to convey his powerful message were movement and color. His use of mostly bright colors reflects the idea that companies use exciting marketing strategies to draw people into their advertisements. He uses color to make certain aspects pop, such as the red behind the big pile of products. Also, the contrast between the blue background and the yellow construction equipment draws your eye to see the whole story. The construction equipment is a key element to understanding what Stephen Beers' environmental message is.

The second art element that I mentioned regarding this painting is the use of movement. Going back to the construction vehicles seen in the painting, they appear to be actively moving. Without this motion, the idea of everything being thrown into a landfill would be lost. The placement of these vehicles, as well as the direction they're facing, helps to show how things are being dropped into the never-ending pile of products shown in the center of the art.

My personal reaction to Stephen Beer's artwork is honestly the feeling of being powerless. Unlike Zoe Elizabeth Norman's painting, The Future's in our Hands, his painting doesn't depict a solution. Although I believe this is because the solution is rather obvious on the consumer's side, don't buy things you don't need. 

As I said before, the color choices he used to paint Earth are very impactful. It's an aspect of this painting that I do really enjoy. Such as the bright red pit in the middle of the Earth where all the products we've thrown out lie. It delivers the message in a powerful, metaphoric way. It shows how all of our overconsumption, as well as companies' overproduction, is burning a hole through the Earth.

The last and final piece that I want to write about is actually untitled, but it is part of the artist, Sophia Mavrolas' Save the Mermaid Series. She created this work in Palmdale, California, in the year of 2019.  This specific painting by Sophia Mavrolas is not currently for sale, but it was included in a few articles that addressed the environmental problem of plastics within our oceans. 

When Sophia Mavrolas created this piece, her aim was to spread environmental awareness. We can see in the painting that the mermaid has plastic and garbage hanging from her arms, stuck on her tail, and caught in her hair. She's even holding an old banana peel up to her face as if she's deciding to consume it or not. Representing how marine life doesn't know any better, so they're consuming the garbage that's infecting our oceans. So it's up to us and our leaders in positions of power to know better. 

An article by the "Daily Sundial" regarding this artwork says, "Spreading awareness of environmental issues has been a constant upward battle for Mavrolas. Through her art, Mavrolas is trying to send a similar message about taking care of the world, and all its inhabitants for future generations"(Hanafi, 2019).

Two of the art elements that Sophia Mavrolas used to convey her powerful message would be contrast and her use of lines. The background holds contrast within itself by using grey and white, making it more enticing to look at. Her smooth background contrasts well with the rougher and more detailed mermaid in the focal point. The background is also more curvy and light, whereas the mermaid, along with the ocean, is more angular, sharp, and uses mainly dark colors. The use of contrast among these elements works well to make the mermaid stand out.

The other art element I wanted to analyze was Sophia Mavrolas's use of lines. She used lines to depict subtle motion within the water so that it's easily recognized as water. Then her use of lines within the sky creates an airy effect through the use of swirls and small light colored, dainty lines. Finally, her use of lines on the mermaid brings her to life. Her hair has curly and wavy lines, her body is structured with more angular and straight lines, leading to her tail, where there are small, almost m-shaped lines and dots to show the scaly texture of the mermaid's tail.

My personal reaction to the work is that Sophia Mavrolas's message feels like an impossible yet crucial problem to solve. Her use of common items like a grocery bag and a water bottle helps this artwork to hit close to home for the viewers. When you look at it, you have to realize that these are things you likely use every day that're polluting the ocean. Although I don't make this point to say it's solely the consumers' fault, I do think there are steps we can take as consumers to do better. 

With that being said, though, we shouldn't carry guilt for what our governments are allowing to happen. I think that goes for all of these environmental issues I've addressed throughout this blog.

Hanafi, S. (2019, February 12). Artist raises environmental awareness with work. Daily Sundial. https://sundial.csun.edu/139672/arts-entertainment/artist-raises-environmental-awareness-with-work/#

Climate change art. Octopus Energy. (n.d.).https://octopus.energy/climate-art/Mavrolas, 

S. A. (n.d.). About the artist. Sophia Alonso Mavrolas.https://www.sophiamavrolas.com/our-services

Iberdrola. (2021, April 22). Environmental artists, a sustainable trend. https://www.iberdrola.com/culture/environmentalart#:~:text=The%20answer%20is%20environmental%20art,our%20behaviour%20on%20the%20planet.