Mx.D.P

What is Art (2024) is an art installation made for the BorthFest Pilot Art Festival.

It asks how, where, and what art should be.

Inspired by the panels made for the identity flag project, specifically the Trans Flag F*sting the Oil Companies (2024) for my Fine Art MA at Central Saint Martins UAL.

It looks at the commodification of art as we enter the Climate Chaos of the Anthropocene.

Made with :

Eco-recycled printer paper

Environmentally damaging acrylic paint

Mica from the cosmetics industry

Tylo gum (a synthetic petrochemical powder additive used in human food to artificially and cheaply thicken food)

Traditional linseed oil pastel

Watercolour paint

Out-of-date tattoo ink repurposed for art

Posca pens (these are notorious for not being re-used once empty)

Encapsulated in Co-polymer plastic laminated pouches.

Plates are spaced with plastic animal ear tags

Hung using black polypropylene twine used in modern farming practices and black single-use examination gloves

I used the ironic materiality of Gel printing off plastic printing plates, taking impressions of plants growing in the beach garden.

The plates are eventually collaged with waste from the process and finally run through a laminator machine, which paints both the oxidised oil pastel as it melts under the heat of the rollers, spreading and merging with the wet and dry materials…

Will the wet paint remain wet within the pouch?

If it does, for how long?

How long will the planet last?

What should art cost?

The planet?

This artwork will last forever; the plastic will never break down or biodegrade; it is a Co-polymer, so once a laminating pouch is made, it lasts forever…

The work is shown on a house…

Join me for a Sunset Painting workshop on the last evening of BorthFest 8pm on the beach, I won’t be bringing my laminator, but I might bring my gel plate! Bring your art materals, a deckchair and a bottle!