The Naive Twins recycled aluminium sculptures targeting the highly polluting bottled water industry
Author: Distil Ennui | Post Date: 11-01-2022
Each year, 35 billion plastic water bottles alone are thrown in the trash in the United States alone. The total carbon footprint of one 500 ml (16.9 oz) bottle of water is 828g of carbon dioxide. Globally 1.5 billion plastic drinks containers are made each day, with only 6% on best accounts are ever recycled into further use. To see that still to this date where we know full well the consequences of our actions on the environment that over 90% of these valuable and difficult to produce materials - aluminium and plastic from the confectionary and drinks industry are either buried in land fill sites, burned or dumped in rivers and oceans. (Supporting Data here)
'The Naive Twins' recycled aluminium sculptural works, 19 x 6.5 cms
I actually created this initial concept many years ago in 2002 as a 2d artwork whilst stuck in a three day snowstorm at Chicago airport for what seemed like an unending period of 'terminal' life, so for me it was better to pass the time constructively. So I photographed these from advertising in discarded magazines in the rubbish bin next to my seat and reworked the images on my laptop. Here is the original 'Naive' 2d artwork I created.
That was many years ago, but the same conversation continues today, now with age and as more skills come to my immediate disposal; fabricating these heavy pieces in liquid aluminium feels an important progression for me in this particular conversation.
For these new works I recently 3d scanned a few water bottles (not Evian branded), including a few where I crushed the base, seen in white on the left in the below images - painted white to aid a better scan resolution. In the middle is the 3d rendered piece that has been 3d printed, then on the right the finished solid aluminium pieces. They are an exact replica of the original bottle, excepting the intentional changes before sand casting.
Below you can see images from the sand casting process moving towards the finished piece. Each weighing in at around 1.250 Kilograms made exclusively from beer cans rescued from their intended destination of a land fill site, each sculpture uses around 350 cans. They are fabricated the same way as at the 'Makers Place' recycling studio I helped setup in the Maldives. All harmful VOC gasses are filtered from the furnace making no carbon footprint during this particular fabrication process.
Above you can see my first attempt at casting direct from the 3d print, where the printed lines can still be seen in the finished cast, I learnt quickly that hand finishing the 3d prints is an important stage worth spending the time on. For this I used various grades of sandpaper and tools to use with them to create the various shapes and contours needed with this complex curved piece. I also used Smooth-On Resin XTC-3D to help shorten this process as a liquid filler helping fill the lines ahead of sanding.
The next image below shows far greater textural clarity and smooth finish.
Below the first castings cooling down - note the hand made casting boxes that are doing really considering the workload.
The finished pieces..
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