HARRY DELORME

From HARRY DELORME: For more than 30 years, I have used found materials in my paintings and installations, many of which deal with environmental concerns such as development, habitat loss, global warming and plastic pollution. My recent works, since 2012, include functional items made from found plastic objects, photographs, map and photo-based relief paintings and assemblages made with plastic items retrieved from the banks of the Savannah River near the McQueen’s Island Trail. “Plastic beaches” – sites where postconsumer plastic washes up on riverbanks and shorelines – are an increasing and disturbing phenomenon. Works in my current series include representations of the historic trail, painted from satellite maps or from landscape photographs I take on site. These paintings are color matched and covered with found plastic objects washed up on the shores of the Savannah River near the trail. These items - which are dumped into waterways, washed away during storms, lost or tossed overboard from watercraft - include a wide cross section of consumer plastic items. In the world’s oceans, huge swaths of floating plastic bottle caps, cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, and smaller plastic particles lurk just under the waves great garbage gyres. These items are sometimes consumed by and kill birds, fish and other sea life. Even more insidious are micro plastic particles and fibers found throughout our local waterways and in local marine life. If we are serious about the health of our oceans and coastal environments, we must educate people about the consequences of the St. Patrick’s Day plastic mug tossed into the Savannah River, the cigarette lighter casually dropped from the side of a fishing boat or pleasure craft, and the countless other plastic items that are released into our waterways on a daily basis as well as the choices we make each day as consumers.

PIECE FOR MAKING WAVES

Breakdown, 2013

Found plastic from McQueen's Island and flashe underpainting on panel

48" x 24"

PIECE FOR MAKING WAVES

Plastic Sunset, McQueen's Island, 2016