New Rainforest Painting

acrylic on canvas 30" x 36

The third and latest painting in the Disappearing Rainforest series.

7,000 Evergreens: Planting 7,000 good ideas

Planting 7,000 of anything should be a good idea.

It definitely was for the first to do so: The late German artist and early Green Party activist Joseph Beuys, whose project 7,000 Oaks was a landmark in conceptual art and environmentalism. (Did I really describe this guy as early and late in one sentence? sheesh)

Now, I don't even remember what I was surfing around looking for or what I clicked on a few minutes ago - when I came across this interesting project: 7,000 Evergreens.

This project applies the Beuys concept to artificial trees. For $10, anyone can sponsor an artificial tree to be planted somewhere in the U.S. The idea being that you can keep artificial trees that are being discarded, out of landfills and, at the same time, actually beautify the landscape.

The site lacks some explanation about things I would be curious about like: how is it ensured that your "planted" tree does not become just another piece of junk on a beach in a couple of years; and, how would the planting be controlled over the vast territories envisioned?

Anyway, it was more the idea itself that caught my eye, and that is probably more the intention of the creator, than the logistical exercise of actually planting and tending the 7,000 trees of Christmases Past. (The count of trees planted is currently at 142.)

To take Beuys' creation one step further, Why not plant 7,000 of anything else? How about 7,000 projects X 7,000 units included in each one?

as in,

1. 7,000 good ideas
2. 7,000 grass seeds
3. 7,000 art projects
4. 7,000 apple trees
5. 7,000 flowers
6. 7,000 crocuses
7. 7,000 used picture frames

and so forth...

end result - approx. 49 million units of positive energy spread around the world.

The projects could be conceived just about as fast as a person could type them.

It would take a *little* more work generating buy-in...

For starters I will do my little part and buy in to the 7,000 Evergreen project. After that, we'll see...

143 - 6,857 to go

New Work: Towra Point Wetlands

Wet Paint * Wet Brush * Wetlands

The painting, newly created for 2008, is the fourth painting by Tatiana in the Wetlands series.

We are featuring wetlands from around the world in these paintings.

The idea is to include important, threatened, or otherwise significant wetland areas from around the world.

I am a little reluctant to include links to eBay from this blog. In the past, this has resulted in the blog "self-destructing". So, for now, I'm just going to post a few things here and there.

The previous three paintings in this series were all sold during the past year: Ust Luga (Russia), Vembanad Wetlands (India) and Sweethall Marsh (Chesapeake Bay, U.S.A.).

Brief Overview of 2007

2007 was a year of incubation and new life for co2 art.

A lot of interesting stuff was conceived. We had many ideas, some of them good, developed a few to maturity and had concrete results and sales to show for our efforts.

Three projects involving series of abstract paintings have been developed to the point where the finished pieces have been sold to collectors around the world. Thank-you to all the buyers!

These three series are as follows:

1. After the Glacier's Gone (* yesterday * was * all * we * had *)

2. Remains of Rainforest

3. Wet Paint - Wet Brush - Wetlands

The paintings have referenced ecosystems far and wide from India to Alaska and have all been sold to buyers from South Africa to Canada and the U.S.


Other projects are still ripening or are in various stages of development - for one thing, this post could be taken as a re-affirmation that none of these concepts are in danger of going dry on the vine!

I'm looking forward to building on what we have started, and to seeing this all take off this year and to be able to show art taking a role in environmental awareness, conservation and activism.

Happy 2008!

Remains of Rainforest #1

This abstract canvas conveys a sense of what one might perceive on the site of a rainforest clearing project.

This initial painting of the series is not tied to a specific Rainforest or deforestation incident.

After the Glacier's Gone #1

acrylic on canvas
30" x 36"







PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT
** ye s t e r d a y * w a s * a l l * w e * h a d **

CO2 Art unveils a project that portrays the Earth's receding glaciers based on an abstract conception of what could be exposed when the Glacier is gone.

The artist, Tatiana Iliina-Gooden, has employed her signature strategy of using images that are pleasing to the eye, and expertly painted, to imply a subject that is, in reality, less pleasant to contemplate.

The images, though stark and apparently lifeless, seem to hold out a hope that the planet can continue to be a place of beauty even after the glaciers are gone. At the same time, the viewer is moved by Iliina-Gooden's adept palette knife work to feel a new degree of urgency in relation to the whole global warming situation, as they see glaciers portrayed as dirt, rocks and pools of water.

This first canvas of the project was shipped out today to a buyer in South Africa.

What's Coming Down the Alternative Pipeline

A report released two days ago by the Canadian Boreal Initiative lays out a plausible basis for assessing the value of environmental "services" delivered naturally by the Mackenzie River watershed. They came up with an annual value of about $448 billion in environmental contributions by the basin if left in pristine condition, as compared with the $40-some-odd billion annual GDP of the area based mostly on resource extraction.


This, at the same time as a new incarnation of the long-shelved '70s mega-project "The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline" is gaining plenty of steam as the "Mackenzie Gas Project".

Let's call it what it is. This project represents nothing more than a massively destructive means for mainlining profits into corporate coffers.

CO2 Art is pleased to announce an alternative pipeline.

This is a pipeline of visual art, fine art and conceptual art that address the problems of climate change.

We have begun several projects in 2007:

* CO2 Art Expedition to "Find Snow" and "Make Water"
* CO2 Art Social Conservation Project: "Urban Snow Removal as a Threatened Culture"
* CO2 Art National Statement: "The Life of Hockey"

We had an extremely busy first month of the year and first month of existence as an organization.

The work is continuing and will be updated here. Stay with us!