Balazs Csizik Transforms Ocean Waste Into Suprematist Art

The photo artist and graphic designer used rubbish he found scattered across beaches, and before discarding them in bins, created something meaningful. Objects like colored plastic straws, bottle caps and jagged pieces were placed in a way “This series is based on feeling guilty about finding beauty in these colorful plastic pieces”that references the use of geometric shapes that are common to the Russian Suprematism art movement. Painter Kasimir Malevich is credited to have started the movement in 1915, which focuses on abstract art using basic geometric shapes—such as circles, squares and lines, in limited colors. Csizik hopes that the elements of his series may help to raise awareness of the problem of pollution. Finding colorful shapes in polluted areas does provide an element of aesthetics, one that reminds Csizik of his responsibility. “This series is based on feeling guilty about finding beauty in these colorful plastic pieces”, he explains, “Despite [that] they are garbage”. Guilt aside, another more pressing concern for Csizik is that the waste products more broadly “Represent one of the biggest challenges to solve for humanity: to reduce the pollution of the Oceans”.