Artist Hugo McCloud, known for using unusual medium choices such as aluminum sheeting, tar paper, scrap metal and solder, spent his quarantine in Mexico, layering together tiny pieces of plastic bag waste . The result is a 31-piece exhibition dubbed Burdened , recently on display at the Sean Kelly Gallery in Hudson Yards, New York. The artwork is a statement against the environmental impact of single-use plastic , but it’s also a response to the hardships of the human condition. The final pieces reflect the lives and tell a story of individuals potentially impacted by the journey of a single plastic bag. “Traveling in India, I saw multicolor polypropylene plastic sacks everywhere and started to understand their downcycle, from the companies that purchased and used them to distribute their products, down to the trash pickers in Dharavi slums,” McCloud explained. “The idea that these plastic bags would always be around — never biodegrade — interested me, curious about the hands and lives of the many people they would pass through.” The artistic process eliminates the need for glues or paints, relying instead on many thin layers of plastic-bag bits. The outcome requires planning, because the plastic is fused onto […]
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