ART INSIGHTS Creating Wealth as a Successful Artist - John Dahlsen

The Purge SeriesDuring the latter part of 2005 and into 2006I created a new body of environmentalartwork that considers cycles and recycling,a series of synthetic polymer paintings onBelgian linen based on the subject matterof plastic "purges" - plastic fabricatormachine end-waste. This “Purge Series”of environmental artwork concentrated oncycles, momentum and the multiple.I painted non-recyclable purged plasticobjects- objects that are by-products ofeverything else plastic. These objects arethe plastic pieces run through a machinebefore or after a hairbrush, juice bottle orchair is made. They represent everythingand nothing. The plastic in its petroleumstate has undergone millions of years ofevolution to get to this stage, and then it isdiscarded as a by-product of consumerism.The paintings create the profile of a solidsculpture, moulded and plied to presentthe essence of formalism. The subjectmatter of the paintings conjures abstract39