It is increasingly clear that we must fundamentally increase how we utilize plastics. Thanks to some artists, plastics are used to pass a message to the world and are also art. One such artist is Agne Kisonaite; Besides enhancing the recycling infrastructure, she uses her art to communicate with society.
Agne Kisonaite added 32 bars of recycled plastic straw waste art to the facades. She decided to turn the straws discarded after being used at the bar into a project. It took months of hard effort and almost 10,000 plastic straws to complete the artwork. No one has ever put this concept into practice.
Agne Kionaite is renowned for her numerous art projects and unwavering passion for transforming trash into works of art. She has received recognition for her work from the Lithuanian National Design Prize Award (2015) and holds the 2015 Guinness World Record for the "Lipstick Tower" art project.
"Diabetes," one of her largest projects on display in Abu Dhabi was made out of insulin syringes and materials belonging to other diabetics. In 2018, Agne Kionait used blood glucose test strips to make a " Family " painting in honor of "World Diabetes Day" in which she gave to Kaunas Clinics. Other of her famous works include installing old lipsticks, empty nail polish bottles, discarded coffee capsules, and various packaging types.
She utilizes her paintings, sculptors, and carpets to remark on social and political issues in the contemporary era using plastic waste like straws, insulin injections, etc. A multidisciplinary artist who uses a variety of media, she turns commonplace items into modern art with a purpose. She does handmade rugs, paintings, sculptures, and furniture.
The installation of the plastic straws proved to be much more difficult than she had anticipated because Agnes needed to think, plan, and act autonomously. This time was different since she reported encountering numerous circumstances she could not entirely control or determine.
The initial step wasn't just to collect the discarded straws from the pubs. The complexity of the questions, which will cut, melt, and pour the plastic into a mold, was overwhelming. What's the best technique to affix sculptures made of plastic straws to concrete flower pots? Which materials are most effective? She did quite a bit of experimenting with clay, gypsum, silicone, and epoxy. Still, in the end, she opted to stay with the original idea of using only cocktail straws and no other materials.
Agnes was asked why she didn’t use the straws in their original form, and her answer was aesthetics. Whether she started fully from scratch or used previously owned materials for her art, she always aimed for aesthetic quality. She took a different route to get the appropriate shape and hauled enormous bags of gathered drinking straws, chopped them up, then melted and poured the hot plastic into molds.
The installation of plastic straws celebrates femininity, the central concept of all Agnes Kisonaite artworks. This project gave her a new perspective on her art, and she began to view making ornaments and decorations from an entirely new perspective.
Through this endeavor, she could showcase her version of the decor and observe how it functions. Only one mold was used to construct every female face. Like everyone else, they developed unique characteristics due to the erratic pressure.
Agne's artwork is inspiring and presents a distinctive viewpoint on the contemporary world. Agne is known for her themes like materialism, and the idea of fake beauty serves as her motivation. She blends methods to produce multi-media pieces, occasionally fusing the two- and three-dimensional art worlds. Agnes often thinks outside the box to enlighten us about contemporary society. Every one of Agnes' art starts as a painted image. Her selection of materials distinguishes her art from others. She uses environmentally safe materials and wastes sometimes. She chose birds because she finds inspiration in them.