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Semester Completed

Spring 2017

City

De Pere

Keywords

Becky Ratajczyk, Rebecca Ratajczyk, mixed media, installation art, upcycle

Disciplines

Art and Design

Artist Statement

I transform ordinary, ubiquitous object into novel mixed-media art. These objects are often forgotten from the human mind although they are often used. Society depends on clothes to keep us warm or cool and storage is necessary to keep food fresh. Many of these tools are made of fossil fuels, and end up stuck in a landfill that will take millions of years to decompose. Sometimes materials left behind are actually hidden gems. If you take a familiar object and transform it, will it reveal a new function, new purpose, beauty or problem within society?

In my work, I connect new forms of representation beyond an object’s original use that reflects in texture, light, and composition that changes perspective. Growing up in a small farm town, though near to many tourist cities, has led me to draw my artistic ideas from the environment around me. The conditions that reflect my work will depend on lighting; texture and composition that will alter the original material and only give subtle clues to its origin. In the construction of the canvases, 76 plastic bags were then cut apart and sculpted in a style that mimics natural forms.

Copyright

Rebecca Ratajczyk

Becky Ratajczyk Senior Art Show

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