Art and the Environment

Our planet alone is a piece of itself.

The color that nature creates cannot be imitated by humankind.

The sound of wind resonates within our minds.

The blue of the skies and of the seas open our minds.

The clouds and the forest stand high above us.

Nature is giving.

Through works of art created by nature & environment loving artists, we can discover what our planet really means to us?in a way that we never understood before.

1. Bodypainting with the environment

If we look at our planet as a living organism (as in the perspective of the Gaia theory), the human race would be a part of it. Animals and plants (other than humans) are also a part of the planet that cannot exist without the environment and the nutrients provided by Earth.

At the same time, they are elements that keep the planet working. The Photographer Jean-Paul Bourdier from California is an artist that tries to portray humans as a part of nature. His environmental artwork depicts human figures painted in line with the ground, the wind, the mountains, and the forests. Many of his pictures include bodypainting.

Everything we do seem so distant, so far away from nature itself. According to Jean-Paul Bourdier, modern people are living without the [natural] color of life.

He says that he wants to illustrate the comfort that can be found in nature. He believes that we will also feel comforted when the color of the blue sky and thick forests become a part of us.

Environment conservationists support his work by claiming that technology cannot conquer the planet. According to them, Bourdier?s work helps us understand that we will always be a part of the environment that surrounds us.

2. Calligraphy and nature

Beautiful handwriting can sometimes be a form of art.

Especially when calligraphy becomes a part of the ecosystem that surrounds us. Andrew Van Der Merwe is a calligrapher from South Africa.

He presents his work on the beach – where the crashing waves meet the sky. In order to express the significance of the history of the human race, Andrew Van Der Merwe uses ancient African letters in his project.

Andrew Van Der Merwe?s calligraphy lasts only 5 minutes. The currents come in, and his words are washed away. Only photos can capture the moment. In his project, Andrew Van Der Merwe did not use any unnatural (or chemical) materials).

He used the nature itself as a canvas. He says that he does this because he does not want any harm to be done to the environment. While art is important to him, it cannot be true art when it creates pollution.

From his way of expressing art in an eco-friendly way, we can see how eco-artists today are working hard to care for the environment.

* Picture Sources

1. www.jeanpaulbourdier.com

2. http://www.writtenword.co.za