crystal wagner recycles single-use materials into gigantic colorful sculptures

american artist crystal wagner gives new life to single-use materials in her large-scale, colorful sculptures. primarily working in shades of blue and green, wagner sculpts old plastic table cloths and chicken wire into undulating, organic forms.

all images © crystal wagner

by playing with scale and bold colors found in everyday materials, like plastic tablecloths she claims are almost five years old in some cases, wagner blends the natural and artificial. following no specific technique, she presses the fabric into the pre-designed armature, a metallic mesh she bends to create imaginary shapes.

wagner’s origins are in paper art, creating wall-hung sculptures of similar shape. wagner cuts and twists screen-printed sheets of paper into exotic bioforms which today, sit alongside her large scale installations.apart from numerous commissions to occupy galleries with her amorphous sculptures, that spread over the walls of houses and galleries, she has created pieces for sports and entertainment brands such as NIKE and viacom. in 2015 she presented at the shrine auditorium for the KOBE X blackout experience, a fan celebration and artistic expression of NIKE’s KOBE X sneaker, and for viacom she created a 117 ft piece for the entrance lobby to the brands headquarters in times square.