The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Pasta Perfect Art

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Pic #1 – Pasta Art: “Link” (detail) by Steven Simon, 2010
Dr. Atkins would probably hate this.

Steven Simon’s artwork cracks me up. You might say his latest installations are devoted to an all-carb diet. His medium is pasta. Simon is a dedicated environmentalist who uses his work to educate and inspire others—especially children–about the beauty, usefulness, and fragility of the world’s living coral reefs.

He’s also the guy who created a coral reef installation with 31,000 pieces of campanelle pasta (Pics #2 and #3 below). Each piece is hand-painted with brightly colored acrylic paint. Simon says he fell in love with campanelle’s  flower-like shapes—finding them to be the most perfect, realistic way to represent rich and vibrant reef life.

PIc #2 - Pasta Art: "There" (detail) by Steven Simon, 2010

We displayed this piece as a conversation stimulating backdrop for a FORTUNE “Brainstorm: Green” Conference at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel this Spring. Now, it’s on temporary display on the lobby level of the Ritz, next to the new, way cool fluconazole environmental education center, “Ambassadors of the Environment.”

The Ritz partnered with Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society to launch this unique educational program on Earth Day. Expert naturalists take guests on adventures through the natural wonders of the local seaside environment, including the kelp forests, tide-pools, and coastal bluffs.

Pic #3 Pasta Art (wide shot) "There" by Steven Simon

According to The Nature Conservancy, if the present rate of destruction continues, 70% of the world’s coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050–yet they are among the oldest ecosystems on Earth. Simon is hopeful his work will stimulate viewers into action in protecting our disappearing natural resources on land and in the sea.

Pictured on top, (Pic #1) Simon’s multi-colored “Link” installation, also made with pasta–from playful “bowtie” farfale, to utilitarian  macaroni. The “aquarium” holding the sculptural piece is 7 feet by 7 feet, and presents a window through which viewers can peek–and wonder–how the heck did he pull this off?

Ritz “Ambassadors of the Environment” Link: http://www.oceanfutures.org/news/press-releases/ambassadors-program-open-ritz-carlton-laguna-niguel

Steven Simon link: http://www.solarsculpture.com

What the #$**?! is Eco-art?

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Often made from our trash, or made about our trash, really effective “eco-art” makes a sobering, or humorous–but always thought-provoking–statement about man’s precarious relationship with nature.  Sometimes, the work simply jolts us into recognizing the importance of our stewardship. Bottom line: if it challenges your view, if it inspires you to change—it’s successful.

I’ve been fortunate enough to curate eco-art exhibitions for corporations deeply committed to preserving the environment. I comb galleries, trade papers, and the internet, for eco-dedicated artists. I’m now a devoted fan of several elite environmental art visionaries, many of whom I’ve worked with over the last few years.

Eco-artist Tom Deininger "paints" with trashed plastics and industrial waste.

At the FORTUNE “Brainstorm: Green” Conference 2009, we showed the work of Tom Deininger, who transformed a truckload of consumer plastics into a stunning backdrop of New England Fall foliage at its peak. Check out the close up (left)–you’ll spot Barbie doll parts, old 45s, and other pieces of y our childhood, glued and screwed into a reclaimed wood backing.

At another online pharmacy FORTUNE “Brainstorm: Green” Conference, we exhibited Nancy Spiller’s tsunami wave of shredded junk mail (below, right) which she collected from her own mailbox for one year. We all watched the installation stimulate spirited conversations among corporate policymakers and dedicated environmentalists.

"The Junk Mail Project" Installations by Barbara Hashimoto and Nancy Spiller

To me, eco-art, loosely defined, describes:
1)    Art created from recycled or reclaimed materials, non- recyclable plastics, consumer or industrial waste.
2)   Art that celebrates the beauty of nature, or showcases our precious, disappearing natural resources. (See Bartlett photo below.)

3)   Art that changes the outdoor environment—even for a few seconds. (See Christo, below)

I’ll be regularly spotlighting the trailblazers of this burgeoning art movement, and would love to hear about your own eco-art discoveries.


Photographer Anita Bartlett chronicles our world's most stunning natural resources. Above: "Reflection" (Bolivia).

Christo “Gates” in  Central Park, NYC. Photo by Wolfgang Volz. (c)2005, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.