Carter Burden Gallery is pleased to present Vernita Nemec’s latest sculptural artwork created from throw-away plastic packaging... entitled “Evil Plastic Blues”. The new work parallels her art from junk mail created in the early 2000s.

Much like the Japanese tradition of Wabi-sabi that embraces the imperfections and transience of objects, Nemec embraces the imperfections of plastic that contains and covers objects but is then discarded. She reuses these plastic discards to create sculptural objects that she hopes will bring attention to this environmental concern, an artistic response to an environmental crisis. Nemec uses the aesthetics of Wabi-Sabi by focusing on the beauty of the discarded plastic’s physicality and uselessness and then creating art from it, saving it from enlarging the plastic gyres growing in the oceans, killing the coral and sea creatures who think it is food.

Her early iterations of "Plasticism" took the form of bas-relief collages created from vacuum-formed plastic packaging. These plastic forms of objects from everyday life coalesced into compositions that spoke to the chaotic interplay between our lives and the pervasiveness of plastic detritus. Plastic in the trash not only fills our landfills but is filling the oceans, the air, the soil, and even our bodies as it is incorporated into more and more substances that we live with, including the fabric of our clothing and much more. Some of these works were started in 2015 and are included in this exhibit, because, surprisingly, some of the plastic forms show visual signs of aging, reflecting the behavior of additives in the plastics.

The artist will also be talking about the works she has created and the impact that plastic trash has on our environment & the future. A reception will follow. We look forward to seeing you soon at this important exhibit of art, which addresses a problem of daily life.

You can see more about Vernita Nemec and her art on Wikipedia. Nemec was formerly the director of Artists Talk On Art (ATOA) & her current day job is as the director of Viridian Artists, a gallery of underknown artists. She has presented more than 30 solo exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia & the US, also on occasion, presenting performance artworks.