Gallery Exhibition Essay

 How much is too much exactly? What is an acceptable measurement to be just right? Just where do things get out of hand? If I drop a package of Mentos in a full two liter bottle of soda, what would happen?  Aside from the last question, all of them can be answered at the gallery at New Jersey City University Too Much curated by Professor Eileen Ferara and Professor Doris Cacoilo. This exihibit show cases how much waste we create everyday and how it can effect us. By using the everyday garbage, the artists in this exhibit have turned them from waste into works of art.

Looking at the art in the exhibit, the biggest, most eye catching, and most amazing piece in the exhibit in my opinion was Illuminous City by artist Poramit Thantapalit. It is made with plastic bottles, LED lights, and video projection, is 120 x 55 x 55 in, and is about $1000. The artist got inspired from the relationship and connection between humans, nature, and the surrounding such as trees, flowers, the ocean, people, and animals. They focus on using recycled and non-recycled materials for their art. They created art in all kinds of mediums such as sculpture, large instillation, photography, drawings, pottery, and much more. The work is made from small parts and goes together like a puzzle. All the pieces can be used to be their own art piece, but could be put together to form the full piece. They can even be put into any order to form a new large piece as opposed to the original intentional one.

This piece is made of over 300 Mountain Dew and 7-Up plastic bottles to make five different pieces and when put together they form a city landscape. The first piece is called Map. This was made from the plastic bottle labels of the bottles, cut, collaged, and taped together to make a city map. It's used as a wall instillation. The second piece is called Complex and is made from the middle part of the bottles, folding them into cubes, and interlocking them to form the landscape. The third is called Window is made from the middle part as well, connecting them together, forming three square window frames, installed on the ceiling. The fourth is called Tower is made from the bottom of the bottles, connected with wires, wrapping them around a wire frame column, with LED lights inside. The fifth is called Tree is made from the top of the bottles including the cap, installed on the ceiling by connecting it together with bottle caps to create tree branches.