Petrochemical PLANTS

Petrochemical PLANTS is a series of mixed-media paintings that explore the pervasive and insidious nature of plastics and petrochemicals, and are a contemporary take on the Sottobosco, or forest floor still lifes, of the Dutch Golden Age painter Otto Marseus Van Schrieck. They are depictions of the Anthropocene, where plastic pollution has permeated nearly every ecosystem across the globe, from the Arctic Circle to the deepest ocean trench. These earth pigment oil paintings are of environments I’ve experienced, adorned and smothered in plastic ‘beads’ made of discarded and reclaimed plastic waste. Ultimately, these works are part of an ongoing investigation into how human industry disrupts more-than-human cycles and its effects on our collective future.

Plastic pollution is cumulative in our bodies and in the environment. It is not biodegradable or beneficially cyclical and has a long lifespan of quietly off-gassing and leeching toxic chemicals into its surroundings. Ubiquitous, shape-shifting, and inescapable, plastic constitutes the majority of our packaging, clothing, electronics, toys, appliances, furniture, and a multitude of everyday objects. It has been found in nearly every ecosystem across the globe, in raindrops, in the bellies of birds, and inside human organs, tissues, and blood. Produced on an escalating scale, plastics are made to be cheaply consumed, utilized temporarily, thrown away, and purchased repeatedly. Made from fossil fuels, the refining process produces hazardous waste in the form of air, land, and water pollution, with petrochemical plants predominantly located in low-income communities and communities of color. But plastic doesn’t have to be our future.

All life on earth depends on regenerative cycles—an infinite number of beautifully wonky revolutions and webs that continue in perpetuity within us and all around us. Plastic and its compositions of chemicals disrupt, obstruct, and break those cycles. These paintings act as windows, as mirrors, as seeds–which systems do we want to protect and (how) do we want our future to grow?

Petrochemical PLANTS, Spalding Nix Fine Art, January 17-March 7, 2025