Beauty from Detritus: Aestheticizing Discards in the Visual Arts

Abstract

Wastes result from human interactions with the environment. Generation of wastes has been on the increase following the global population growth, and subsequent development in technology and its attendant urbanisation. The neglect or mismanagement of wastes constitutes environmental degradation and human health hazards. Thus, various arms of government globally have invested a lot in its management; its proper management generates employment and wealth. Wastes have in the recent times engaged the explorative and creative attention of the visual artists as well as that of the art historians and critics. However, scholars and critics have concerned themselves more with the materials used and forms created than they do with the contextuality of the forms. The research, in addition to finding out how artists creatively manipulate discards to create beauty and wealth, also seeks to probe into the contextuality of the forms created. Textual and visual materials were employed to execute the research. The result indicates that they provide artists with unending supply of materials which they skillfully convert into aesthetics and wealth. Artists find in them veritable alternatives to conventional art materials which they recover and transform into objects of utility as well as aesthetics imbued with. 

Keywords: Aestheticize, detritus, discards, wastes, art, creativity, contemporary artist.