§ 1. 'Art for art's sake,' is a translation of a French quotation which expresses a philosophy about what art should be. What is meant by the phrase is that a true piece of art should be able to stand alone, to do nothing more than to please the eye. Bryant Holsenbeck, an artist from North Carolina, USA, takes the idea behind the quote a step further: while she does create art of great beauty, she also creates art that carries a valuable message.
§ 2. Through her work, Holsenbeck aims to show how wasteful people have become in today's society. She has been involved in many art projects, widely diverse in both theme and scope. Whatever her subject, all of Holsenbeck's art has one thing in common; it is all constructed from 'stuff that people simply throw away because they had thought it was rubbish.
§ 3. Holsenbeck's main philosophy is that nothing is really 'just trash'. She believes that the fact that American
landfill sites (мусорная свалка) are so full of recyclable items says allot about American culture. She has said that, 'Americans create more garbage, perhead, than any other culture, yet we are blind to our waste.' Holsenbeck has made it her calling to 'make the blind see' and she does this through her art. By working within communities, she feels that she can open the eyes of people. She can also show them that the throw-away culture in which we live needs to change and if it doesn't, the world will soon find itself in a terrible situation indeed. Holsenbeck feels that when a person gets involved in her communal art projects, they become more aware of the fact that what they throw away has an impact on the environment. With Holsenbeck's designs, this impact is a positive one because from the garbage come works of great beauty.
§ 4. One of Holsenbeck's recent projects was a vast labyrinth created from old unwanted shoes. The labyrinth was a group effort and Holsenbeck had the children of the community where it was constructed write their concerns about the planet, and life in general, on the individual shoes. Once the labyrinth was completed, an open invitation was extended to community members of all ages to walkthrough the labyrinth, read the children's messages, and learn what it is that threatens today's world.
§5. Holsenbeck's work has been recognised across the US. Wherever she goes, and whatever she does, her message remains the same, 'My installations are both meditations and questions. Where does all this 'stuff' come from? Where does it go? What do we do with it? Why is it here? Let's hope people start getting Holsenbeck's message.
