Peter Moen - Description

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Peter Moen (b. 1957, San Jose, CA, USA)

Caught on Plastic, 2019

Single use plastic, oil paint, nylon net 12’ H x 8’ W

 

Peter likes to use his skills as a portrait painter to make comments on current events by using partially abstract or non-objective oil paintings that include natural or abstract portraits. In this exhibition he decided to paint on plastic that is the subject of the exhibition. He has recently done paintings that depict current political events that he has strong feelings about: hisemotional reaction is a big part of his practice.

The current exhibition is about single use plastic. Plastic has the quality of being a long lasting material that is very light, so that it 4oats. This is a good quality for many uses, but once the piece has performed its function, it stays around for a long time. This has caused a major pollution problem in the oceans. It is a threat to sea life both because it is eaten by animals and it can encumber an animal. Pieces of plastic are mistaken for food by many sea creatures: often, the plastic will not move past the stomach because it cannot be digested. Two whales recently washed ashore with large amounts of plastic in their stomach.

In this exhibitions he has painted portraits of people on pieces of plastic and attached them to an actual nylon 6shing net. The idea is that each piece of plastic we own becomes our responsibility. Another art piece exhibits a relevant idea: Do-Ho Suh’s robe2 is made of thousands of dog tags: each is part of the whole, but is still individual. Peter chose a photo, Figure 13, that shows the magnitude of the problem. It is of a beach on Henderson Island: an uninhabited Island in the middle of the Paci6c Ocean.

 
  1. Hughes, Clyde. “Henderson Island Plastic Debris Denser Than Anywhere in World.” News- max. May 16, 2017. Accessed February 27, 2019. https://www.newsmax.com/thewire/hen- derson-island-plastic-debris/2017/05/16/id/790325/.

 

2. Shovava, and Shovova. “Thousands of Dog Tags Make a Symbolic Robe.” My Modern Met, 17 June 2016, mymodernmet.com/thousands-of-dog-tags-make-a/.

 

3. Hughes,Clyde.“HendersonIslandPlasticDebrisDenserThanAnywhere inWorld.“Newsmax.May16, 2017. Accessed February 27, 2019.

https://www.newsmax.com/thewire/henderson-island-plastic-debris/2017/05/16/id/790325/.