David Edgar

The Plastiquarium

• Commenting on Societal Issues- David Edgar• David Edgar lives in Charlotte N.C. He is retired from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

where he was an Associate Professor of Art. He ran the Master in Arts Administration program. He earned a BFA in Sculpture from Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He developed the Creadle School of Art and the Armory Art Center in Florida. He also worked as a production artist on the EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland projects for the Imagineering division of Walt Disney Company.

• The Plastiquairum, Edgar's current obsession, is the result of an experiment. He was going to a superbowl party and needed something to show his support of the team. He created a "Panther" mask from a recycled laundry detergent bottle and it was the hit of the party. This experiment led to his continuing to play with recycled plastic. As he became more familiar with the plastics he was using, he began to learn about the effects it was having on the environment. The information he found about the increasing phosphates in our oceans waters and their effect on Marine life led to the creation of the Plastiquarium.

• Edgars created a myth- "The Plastiquarium is immersed in mystery. Modern myth suggests that a century of increasing phosphate levels in Earth's marine environment caused new, synthetic life forms to emerge. As recyclable HDPE plastic containers spread concentrates of consumer product pollutants, the Plastiquarium creatures evolved in the image of their packaging forbearers."

• Richard Maschal writes in a review in the Charlotte Observer, on April 22, 2005 , "These plastic containers, as well as chemicals bottled within, are gunking up the environment, making life more precarious for the sea creatures Edgar mimics -- and for us.

• First you smile. Then you frown."• Edgars work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally. Since its beginnings in 2003,

the Plastiquarium has been widely exhibited and written about. Works from it are in the collections of many corporate and private collectors.