Don’t we all know it… the world is drowning in rubbish. We bury it, we burn it, we let it float out into the oceans, polluting air, soil and waterways as well as ourselves. We use and abuse valuable, perhaps limited, often toxic resources, energy and manpower in the process, yet the production of waste does not stop. Quite on the contrary, there is still hardly any item we acquire that is not wrapped up in what will end up to be rubbish of sorts. We recycle. Tyres, cans, glass or plastic bottles and cardboard are reused in buildings and gardens. Some of us – inspired or desperate – turn those materials into Art. And little did I know that this is exactly what I would be doing on a beautiful little island in the South Pacific Ocean for the second half of 2023 and most likely also in 2024.

After spending several months in Europe in 2022 – the highlight being the Venice Biennale, where incidentally several artists were exhibiting works made from recycled waste – I decided to revisit Rarotonga in the Cook Islands for a bit. Except for some rulers, angles and one paintbrush – just in case – I brought no tools or art materials and certainly had no intention whatsoever of producing any serious work. I had come for a holiday and was renting a nice little bungalow owned by friends. I marveled about the lovely and empty white walls, moved the furniture around a bit and unpacked – also a small bench oven and an electric frying pan. The pieces of Styrofoam these were wrapped up in ended up on the veranda for the time being.

Visitors to the Islands of Polynesia are usually welcomed with gorgeous flower arrangements made by the local people. These ‘ei’ or ‘lei’ are worn around the head or neck. In addition, a friend greeted me with some paper flowers she had made. They were colourful and pretty. However, there was no adequate container to place them in. I left it for a bit and later remembered the wrapping material tucked away outside on the veranda. Mmmmhhhh what beautiful ‘Readymades’ (see reference below). And so truly baroque! That would make a perfect frame for those paper flowers. And subsequently the first piece of art on one of the walls.

Not only are the walls in my house white, bare and inviting, the proportions of the living area are perfect with very high ceilings asking for some vertical, sculptural elements, also. Well, there was still that packaging material from the electric frying pan…. I stacked the two pieces on top of each other, glued them together and here was the first sculpture from the Rarotongan Series.

Not long after, my friend Turua came for a visit. Being herself very passionate about the art of Tivaevae and having lived in Europe for several years, she had gained some insight into Contemporary Western Art and understood where I was coming from.

At this point in time, the Cook Islands were preparing for the upcoming 200-year celebration of the arrival of Christianity, with major renovations happening at the church in Titikaveka. “You know”, she said,” I saw all this packaging material in a pile outside the church, maybe there is something you want to use? Do you want to have a look?” I did. So off we went and collected two interesting looking long pieces, approximately 200x20x20cm, as well as four identical smaller pieces of about 60cm in length (Pic 5 – 7).

I have worked in Polystyrene which can be carved and shaped, drilled into, added onto, concreted over, etc. (see Context Outdoor Sculptures using Building Materials) but these are foam, a material I have never before considered and quite different from anything I have ever worked in. I immediately knew that it would be very difficult to do something with it. But still, there was something about these pieces and they did look interesting enough. My ambition was somewhat aroused and we took them home. What followed was a longish period of assessment. I looked at them from all angles, stood them up, turned them around, twisted and bent them, felt them out and found my initial gut feelings confirmed. This material is trouble. It is floppy, bouncy and at the same time has memory and a will of its own. I find it can really only be cut up, glued together and maybe painted. Eventually I could see three possible sculptures in there and settled on cutting them out of the two 2m long pieces (Pic 5 & 6).

Using ‘Found Objects’ or ‘Readymades’ is, of course, not a new thing in art. All of this has been well documented and a lot of information can also be found on line (see for example www.tate.org.uk, or www.moma.org, www.wikipedia.org, www.theartstory.org). This is not the place to go into much detail, but I do want to point out that from about 1910 onwards artists began to incorporate found items into their work, either using these as they were, or transforming, adding to, repositioning and reframing them, i.e. placing them out of their normal context and into a different one. The idea was to alter perceptions and thus realities. Viewers and critics were invited to let go of all preconceived notions which most of them found quite challenging. The best known proponent of this art practice is perhaps Marcel Duchamp, who also coined the term ‘Readymade’, and is quoted to have postulated: “An ordinary object can be elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist”. In 1913 he placed a bicycle wheel onto a stool and in 1917 took a urinal, declared it art and called it “The Fountain”. (Recently doubt has been cast onto his authorship and some art historians now attribute this particular work to Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.)

Much later, in 1942, Picasso followed suit with his sculpture ‘Bull’s Head’, where he used the saddle and handle bar of a bicycle.
These artists, as well as Bracque, Man Ray, Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber, Hannah Hoech ( the Dada Movement) to name but a few, are forerunners of what is now called Conceptual Art. Other important names in this context are Robert Rauschenberg, Joseph Beuys, Meret Oppenheim, Nam Jun Paik, Jeff Koons, Damian Hirst, Sherrie Levine , Ai Waiwai and others.

The leftover materials gave me a headache. I was determined not to ‘waste the waste’…. but had at that point no idea what to do with it. Plus, there were still the four 60cm long pieces (Pic 2 above). Then I remembered my ongoing love affair with The Square and the Grid as well as the huge amount of paintings I have produced along those lines over the past approximately 10 years (see context “Working the Grid”). Here was an opportunity to apply those concepts in a sculptural, 3-dimensional way, also incorporating colour.

I went on to cut out and glue together a large number of mostly cubic shapes and later painted them. While working on these cubes, I sent some photos to my friend Jenny and her comment- referring to the much loved licquorice lollies – was: “ oh… you are having ‘ all sorts’ of fun!” To this I agreed and the name stuck. (Pic 1) 

Actually, in art, this sort of thing is called ‘Appropriation’ and has been around forever, but gained specific importance with the rise of consumerism in the mid-20th century. (see specifically Pop Art). According to MoMa, (www.moma.org.) Appropriation is “the intentional borrowing, copying and alteration of existing images or objects”. Well, it was certainly NOT my intention to appropriate, it kind of just happened.

And sure enough, allsorts of cubes quickly found their way into my second piece of polystyrene from the bench oven. Again I used it as a frame and filled it up to the rim. I shall dedicate this particular piece with much love and admiration to Paul Klee, the Swiss artist and Bauhaus teacher (1879-1940) (Pic 2).

Head garlands as well as the flower necklaces are known in many cultures, but as mentioned before, here in the Pacific “Ei ”, are truly iconic. They are worn by both men and women and not only at special occasions. Therefore an allusion to that beautiful custom seems quite appropriate (Pic 3 and 4). And, by the way, while I can’t at the moment find any refence, I am pretty sure that (in the late 1990s or early 2000s) Rarotonga’s own Ani O’Neill made beautiful ei from the tiny little plastic soy sauce bottles you get when buying Takeaway sushi.

This particular piece (Pic 6) is inspired by Vera Molnar‘s works at the New Murano Gallery in the context of the Venice Biennale 2022 (Pic 7 and 8). I so admire this artist! Her design was executed in glass with gold leaf incorporated. I don’t recall the measurements, but it would have been approx. 6 or 7cm (?) deep. The pieces that had been cut out were loosely placed around the work and I think, if you had found the right spots, they would have easily slid back into them. The design was so beautiful and the craftsmanship just incredible. It came as no surprise to me that the artisans had been faced with a few challenges in the process as a talk with them reveiled. My work above is rather less ambitious.

These (Pics 9 and 10) are some ‘companion works’ for my Untitled above. I like it when pieces don’t stand alone, but have some mates, either along the same concept, colour or material and/or are juxtapositioned against those. (3- dimensional/2-dimensional, horizontal/vertical, light/dark, etc.).

Cardboard, like foam, is not a medium I have ever seriously considered, but not surprisingly, being busy turning >Waste into Art<, my eye fell on that, too. There is lots of it available here, since everything is -nicely packed up – brought to Rarotonga by boat or plane. Competition is only with the taro growers who use it in their plantations. I quickly came to realize that cardboard is actually quite an exciting material to work with. It can be painted, sculpted, glued together, piled up, strung up, used in reliefs, mixed media work and so much more. Plus, it has an interesting texture, can be worked on a large scale and still be manoeuvered about because it is relatively light-weight. In short: it allows for lots of experimenting and nothing is lost if things go wrong, as they sometimes do. What I also found out in the process is that numerous other artists have discovered its qualities, too.

But back to my own work and to where some of the inspiration is coming from. When writing about “Allsorts” above, I already mentioned the Venice Biennale which to me is one of the world’s most exciting and prestigious international art events. Established in 1885, it has become a bi-annual celebration of current and future trends in the arts and explores topics of politics, culture and social issues. “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere” is the theme of the 60th Biennale to take place in 2024. It will again showcase artists from around the world, this time those who are themselves foreigners in their respective countries. See also https://universes.art/en/venice-biennale/2024

I have an ongoing love affair with Venice, La Serenissima, and have been lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time there over recent years. For me, visiting the Biennale is a feast on all levels which gives me a huge boost and kicks off ideas and projects for years to come. Apart from the ticketed areas, Arsenale and Giardini, there are exibitions all over the city, often in the most beautiful environments. I was particularly interested in viewing Stanley Whitney’s Italian Paintings, showcased at Palazzo Tiepolo Passi in 2022 and am ever so glad I didn’t give up trying to find that venue. It took me forever! Anybody who has ever got lost and run around in circles in that maze of Venetian alleys will appreciate this.

At first or even second glance my small scale cardboard works (Pics 1, 2 and 3) may not be identified as inspired by Whitney’s Italian Paintings, but they certainly are. His series very much reflects my own infatuation with grids and colour (see essay “Working the Grid”). When I looked at his work, what first popped into my head was: it would be so interesting to do something along those lines but in a relief-bas technique, meaning slightly 3-dimensional, with the colour bits physically sticking out a fraction. I actually also thought that cardboard might be a suitable medium, but I definitely did not expect to end up doing a series of works along these lines.

Well, here a few of them are …

Pondering these finished works now, I think they may also be somewhat inspired by my fascination with caleidoscopes. My cousin Rudi owned one of those way back in our childhood and did he ever guard it! Sure as hell, I was not allowed to touch it. How my heart was aching…

There are references here (Pics 5 and 9) to works by Jean Arp or Sophie Täuber (Dada) and also perhaps reminders of the famous ‘Cut-outs’ by Matisse, as well as allusions to Colour Field paintings (Abstract Expressionism) of which I have done so many on canvas. In this context see specifically Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler.

Waste Waste Waste…. and can I turn it into Art? Yes, I certainly can! Does it make a difference to the problem? Unfortunately, no, it does not. But it does infuse a bit of love into a very dire scenario.