We find plastic in almost every aspect of our contemporary lives; from when we turn off our alarm clock in the morning until we brush our teeth before going to bed. It can be mixed in the clothes we wear and wrap the food we eat. Even making ethical choices like buying organic does not eliminate plastic from our lives; producers wear shoes with vulcanised gum and goods are transported by vehicles with many plastic components.
Llopis practice explores the boundaries of contemporary objects through the use of a variety of media and materials. In particular, oil plastics have become a central material for his creations. The objects he works with have become the material of his artworks. In his practice, he decontextualizes them from their habitual understanding changing their meaning by modifying, multiplying, and reassembling them as a product of an automatic response when handling them. Through his practice, he has created various narratives relating to ethics, politics, time, ecology/climate change, diaspora, and chaos versus order.
His sculptural artworks are made from different materials, but mostly plastic. These objects have been converted; they have been either previously used, recycled, or cheaply produced. Although these have come from a variety of sources, what these materials have in common is threefold: that they have been massively produced in distant countries, they are no longer useful in our society and they are very difficult to recycle.
His working process has been to reassemble objects in different ways by using their own physical properties and incorporating other materials. He avoids the use of toxic glues for his creation and he is currently investigating how to create assemblages that are environmentally friendly. Reducing and reusing the leftovers he generates during the creative process is another challenge he pays attention to.
It seems that society depends on the use of plastic in almost every one of its actions. Great achievements and advantages have been gained by using this material, but at what ecological cost? People have become complacent. Plastic is a very dangerous material. It takes a lot of energy to produce it and much of it is still very difficult and expensive to recycle. Its production emits dangerous particles into the atmosphere and accelerates climate change.
Pablo Llopis 