Studio Job - Bronze = Plastic

Studio Job was founded in 1998 by Job Smeets in the renaissance spirit, combining traditional and modern techniques to produce once-in-a-lifetime objects. At once highly specific and yet entirely universal, personally expressive and yet experimental, Studio Job has crafted a body of work that draws upon classical, popular and contemporary design and highly visual and sculptural art.

Time
2024
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1998
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Unique
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Unlimited

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Studio Job

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Bronze = Plastic

Studio Job has designed new boundary-pushing art pieces for the RE-PLASTIC MASTERS exhibition organised by Rossana Orlandi. The pieces are made from re-purposed plastic everyday objects combined with bronze for from a lamp collection; Containers III and a unique art piece Ciao Sandro.

Ciao Sandro, 2019

Ciao Sandro is a unique art piece a created as a portrait for Mendini. Conceived earlier this year as an homage to the design icon and brilliant mind we planned to create the sculptural portrait for Alessandro Mendini, sadly in February he passed away and this piece now becomes a memorial to the man affectionately called ‘Sandro’ by his friends.

Job Smeets explains how the collaboration came about; Earlier this year Rossana called us and told us about this project and I thought; plastic = bronze – interesting. I think those industrial rotation moulded products like jerry cans and buckets, aesthetically are perfectly designed, they are beautiful and durable objects in their form, so why throw them away? Right now I am looking back on our body of work over the last 20 years and the everyday and humble objects have been a major them in our work, this contemporary follow up seemed to naturally progress the footsteps of our work.

I thought about the question; why is plastic so bad, the conclusion is that those plastic everyday products are not bad or ugly at all, the only thing that is a problem is how we treat them. When I was young you’d get milk in a glass bottle and an apple packed only in its own skin, now plastic is unnecessarily layered on everything we buy. We want to show the beauty of these everyday objects that we treat as functional slaves. Plastic is just a matter of how you use it, to re-use and to keep it. By combining pop art elements, such as the hands of Mickey mouse, there is a nod to the mass consumption of the famous chains. Plastic started to be introduced in the 19th century as a solution, celluloid was the first substitute for using real animal tortoiseshell, and Bakelite as an alternative for porcelain. It was seen as futuristic and luxurious alternative. It all started with a positive ideological mindset of the precious, but then transformed over the years into wild consumption of the throw away, single-use and low end. This project for us is about uplifting of the normal or everyday, appreciation of the tools around you. By not throwing these pieces away then recycling isn’t even necessary. Although with this new collection Containers III we do not claim to solve the problem of plastics, we just try to elevate them into desirable objects. It’s a mind-set.

Containers III, 2019

Almost 20 years ago in 2000 Studio Job created the ‘Containers I’, one of their first internationally successful sculptural art collections. So other the result is about relying It’s not so important but it made us look back at past collections and this contemporary follow up seemed to follow in the footsteps.

Uplifting of the normal or everyday, appreciation of the tools around you. By never throwing these pieces away then recycling isn’t even necessary.

Alongside this at the Galleria Rossana Orlandi Studio Job has created a new floor lamp series from a mixed media of cast bronze and plastic using familiar household containers.

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