Gabriela García | Disposability Disrupted | Exhibition Reviewed

Disposability Disrupted – Trained as both an architect and a photographer, Gabriela García is an artist with a superb eye. She is also a collector of…styrofoam. Yes, styrofoam, otherwise known as plastic #6. 

Imagine the exhilaration of the art collector’s quest combined with the famous act of bravado demonstrated by Marcel Duchamp when he declared a urinal art. Gabriela García has ingenuity without spectacle. Like the best artists, she’s part magician – suddenly this lowly material becomes as elegant as the minimalist sculpture of Eva Hess, Sol Lewitt, and Donald Judd.

Gabriela García's "Disposability Disrupted"

Architect and multi-disciplinary artist Gabriela García combines her fascination with the formal characteristics and ecological consequences of polystyrene or plastic #6, known as Styrofoam, to craft an immersive and site-specific exhibition titled “Disposability Disrupted.” Through a blend of sculptural elements and captivating photography, García presents the aesthetic allure of this material while thoughtfully examining its environmental implications.

García adds additional meaning to these found objects (which Duchamp named “ready-mades”) because of their inherent connection to climate change. She passionately explains this connection when speaking of her work. The packing material can be compressed, as much of its volume is air. Unfortunately, the majority of styrofoam gets directly thrown into landfills.

Despite its pervasiveness and toxicity to humans and animals, polystyrene remains virtually impossible to recycle in Miami-Dade County. Upon the conclusion of the exhibition, García will move the polystyrene artworks and surplus material left by participants to a recycling plant in Naples, Florida, where she will process and condense the waste. In addition to sculpture, the exhibition presents photographic work that she creates as stand-alone works that document the sculptures before they make their way to the plant.

Disposability Disrupted will run through April 16, 2023, at the Bakehouse Art Complex where Garcia is an artist-in-residence

Gabriella García (b, 1982 Boston, MA, and raised in Venezuela) lives in Miami, Florida.