Waste Management at the Crane

by Melissa McFeeters
Waste Management by Daniel Petraitis
Kelly & Weber Fine Art, Through July 1st, 2008

Daniel Petraitis, 2008
Daniel Petraitis’s latest exhibition Waste Management at the 201 Gallery combines a few of my own personal interests: Moldmaking = awesome. Graphic design = love it. Miniatures = adorable! With the help of these and other mediums, Petraitis has assembled quite a comprehensive show.

If you haven’t yet made your way over to the Crane Arts building to see it, Waste Management is an exploration of our society’s waste making and disposing habits. Miniature dumpsters and garbage bins are gathered in one corner, while molds of common “waste” objects are displayed in another.

Daniel Petraitis, 2008
As is the case with many exhibitions, especially when artists specifically want viewers to see things from their own perspectives, I’m unsure if Petraitis is conveying a clear position on waste and excess. Is it a humorous take on human shortcomings? Is it a plea for change? Or is Petraitis purposely reaffirming humanity’s propensity for wastefulness by creating waste and excess himself? How else can you explain the electrical contraption hanging on the wall, pumping electricity through its circuits with no apparent effect?

Coming from a background of environmentalism and a heightened awareness of my own wasteful ways, I want for this exhibition to be a criticism of waste, but I can’t be sure. Maybe that’s what makes this show refreshing, because it doesn’t force the issue down our throats. Instead, the beauty and approachability of the objects he’s created may bring people closer to the subject itself. On the contrary, photographer Chris Jordan’s provocative “Intolerable Beauty” series from 2005 is anything but beautiful, and makes the issue-at-hand almost unbearable. (Although I find myself referencing those photos so much that I can’t help but appreciate how disturbing they are.)

If it is the case that the show is a testament to a need for change, then how many implications of Daniel Petraitis’ work fell on deaf ears? We easily throw around critical words of “waste” and “excess” but as artists are we not guilty of producing waste ourselves?

I’ve heard it said that political/activist art has a “preaching to the choir” effect, but if Philadelphians are the choir to Petraitis’ Ode to Waste Management, then we’re singing out of tune.

[Melissa McFeeters is a graphic designer, living and working in Philadelphia. As well as being a writer, McFeeters is also the Creative Director at Funnel Pages.]



Bookmark to Del.icio.us