HeARTbeat : Lucas Mongiello Recycles Nostalgia with Plastic Toys

Lucas Mongiello recycles childhood memories with artful rearrangement.

” They are part of our culture, and that’s a way for me not to forget them.”

Referring to the 20/20 series as “surrealistic collages”, Lucas Mongiello’s work is an homage to nostalgia. Displayed rather elegantly under “pretentious Napolean III glass domes,” Mongiello’s media is culled from garage sales and flea markets in his Parisian neighborhood.

The colorful, plastic action figures, comic characters and cheap toys were stored in boxes for a while before Mongiello conceived the work.

Irony is not lost in “displaying them as the Victorian taxidermists displayed exotic birds in glass cages.” In a contemporary twist on how the Victorian’s observed and elevated their natural world, Mongiello suggests we take a moment to observe the world  of ubiquitous plastic we have created, while considering that memory is not necessarily disposable.

The Argentinean artist heads a web and advertising agency called Ministere in Paris.  His talent for organizing interesting ideas into original design can be seen on his website.

 


Eco, trends, art, creativity and how they tumble through social media to shape culture fascinate EcoSalon columnist Dominique Pacheco. Her personal blog, mixingreality, speaks to these topics daily, and here at EcoSalon, she takes a weekly look at the intersection of eco and art. We call it heARTbeat.

Dominique Pacheco

Dominique Pacheco is the author of EcoSalon's weekly heARTbeat column.