Thomas Deininger: Trash Artist

Most junk artists search for material to make their pieces work, but Thomas Deininger wants to send a message that we’re killing our planet with all the meaningless plastic crap we produce and carelessly discard. By carefully selecting and hot-gluing myriad pieces together into insects and animals, he shows us exactly what we’re killing with our waste. Up close, you see a mass of junk, but pull back, and his pieces are breathtaking. The irony of the whole piece juxtaposed with the building materials isn’t lost on the viewer. Watching his video brings it all home. Action figures, plastic bags, mesh nets, water bottles, and millions of other pieces of garbage get dumped into our oceans, to the tune of over 8 million tons every year. Deininger is passionate about his craft because they’re harbingers of what will come if we don’t stop the insanity.