In the chaotic jungle of urban landscapes, there have long been attempts at beautification. These projects have taken the form of secure playgrounds, community gardens, commissioned street art, and more. Artur Bordalo – or Bordalo II, as he’s more commonly known – is a Portuguese street artist who has found a unique way to work in these urban conditions. He uses discarded material to create head-turning art installations with a social message.
Incorporating burnt aluminium cans, old tires, scrap wood, neglected appliances, and other debris into his vast, life-like animal figures, Bordalo's process successfully diverts this material from where it would otherwise end up: littering the streets, piling up in the ocean, or in a landfill. Using a unique technique that combines painting and sculpture, the extraordinary results add a new dimension to the concept of street art.
Part of a series called Big Trash Animals, the sculptures aren’t just colourful and cute. Instead, they form part of a larger commentary on how the wastefulness and carelessness of society harms the animal kingdom. His works feature renderings of animals both large and small. It is the artist’s attempt to make the reality of environmental destruction visible.
Popping up in cities across Europe, they are large, vibrant and tactile. One piece takes the form of a giant Pelican. An aquatic installation, the solid 3D piece was installed against a rusty, abandoned sea vessel and it incorporates trash and other similar materials collected in and around the streets of Aruba. Another piece, an owl can be found in the city of Covilhã in Portugal. Built from tractor tires and other bits of urban scraps, the owl – like most of his other sculptures – grew organically on site, taking form as Bordalo found and acquired materials.
“The idea is to depict nature itself, in this case animals, out of materials that are responsible for [their] destruction,” he told Colossal. “Sometimes people don’t recognise that their simple routines are too much, we are using too many resources too fast and turning them into trash, waste, and pollution.”
Drawing attention to a global problem, Bordalo’s work speaks to the nature of consumerism and the inherent wastage that he sees as characteristic of his generation. It’s a theme that's evident in much of his work. You can see some of his other pieces on his website or by following his mesmerising Instagram account.
