This piece went through a few permutations and I finally arrived at this form after the previous iteration had been picked up by park staff and thrown into a trash compactor. While I was in the process of creating the work an intense thunderstorm raged through for only 15 minutes but I got soaked. I left the site to change into dry clothes and when I returned the piece was gone. Thankfully Louis Casinelli was able to find out what had happened and rescued the work, but it was dirty and damaged. I went with this more discrete version that showcased the color, material, and scale of the three different parachutes I had acquired from an army surplus catalog.

The screwing of the water bottle caps onto the bottles with the fabric sandwiched in-between was a technique I had developed while working on From Room to Room, and then put to use to great effect for Untitled (Anton Art Center). It is a simple attachment technique that involves no alteration of the plastic bottles such that I can recycle them upon completion of the piece. For the Belle Isle piece I wanted to primarily focus on color and showcased the colorful caps in contrast to the drab army green.

— Andy T

“This series of sculptures draws on plastic shopping bags from local stores such as Meijer, Kroger, Harbortown, or CVS, alongside other “eternal waste” like plastic bottles and caps. The water stored in some of the bottles comes from bathrooms on site, allowing for natural condensation to occur. Imitating natural growth patterns, careful consideration is given to each installation’s location, such as steering clear of light tracks, not puncturing the ceiling, and preserving window views. These flexible sculptures reflect the hues and forms of irrigation systems, vegetational growth, or meteorological events. By imitating natural elements and processes, the artworks bridge the gap between the natural and artificial, prompting a reflective dialogue on how to mitigate this increasing divide constructively.”

— Curator Nadja Rottner’s wall label text for Andy T’s Urban Vision