Adriano Costa

Westminster Agua Viva

Westminster Agua Viva is made from Westminster City Council(‘s) recycling bin bags, glued together, that the artist has painted and cut or cut and painted. Although they hang on the wall they possess a strong sculptural quality as the fringes float away from the wall. This is part of a series of works that refer to Brazilian concrete and neo-concrete art as well as Arte Povera in a playful manner while demonstrating a strong identity of its own. Through this work Costa highlights the many recycling stages of these bin bags suggesting the multiple uses that recycled materials can be put to. The exhibition in which the works were displayed was entitled ‘Touch me I am geometrically sensitive’ (Sadie Coles HQ, London, 2014), inviting the viewer to engage physically with the works and debunking the preciousness of art and its inflated values. The title “Agua Viva” which means jellyfish, brings the work to refer both to the material (Westminster bin bags) and its shape.