Los Angeles-based artist Carolina Fontoura Alzaga is a woman on a mission; a mission to make use of the useless. She lived in Mexico and Brazil before settling in the U.S., and as they are all very populous countries, she has no doubt seen a great deal of trash between the three. But to Alzaga, trash is merely an object whose purpose has changed from what it was initially. The circle of life for inanimate objects is something she seems to feel very strongly about, and she proves the philosophy with her innovative sculpture line “Connect”. To express her ideas about recycling, Alzaga has created a line of luxury chandeliers made out of old bicycle parts.
Each chandelier is not only an ecological statement, but also a socio-economic one.
As a rule, the lighting fixture is an extravagant “bourgeois commodity,” but by using the “dismissed and powerless” bicycle parts, Alzaga seeks to reclaim power and “agency of influence” for the forgotten underclass. The bicycle parts are also a symbol of the “self-propelled movement” of the blue collar individual. Photo Credit: James Mann
Whether or not you agree with her wild ideas about class, the chandeliers themselves are something to be marveled at. Ranging from $125-$4,200, the works hang like the Victorian era crystalline lights, only without the crystal, or any other semblance of profligacy for that matter. Occasionally a little rusty, the rims and chains apart are rejected objects, no longer good enough to do what they were made for, but with Alzaga’s creative touch and welding flame, they are re-purposed into something with a meaning deeper than just a mode of transportation. Photo Credit: Carolina Fontoura Alzaga
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