Fantastic Plastic
In the 1960s, the synthetic durability of plastic suggested a bright new world of possibilities. But now, as landfills overflow, plastic’s indestructibility becomes a serious downside. Lee Boroson plays up such contrasts in Plastic Fantastic, a four-part exhibition in Building Five of Mass MoCA.
With successive layers of translucent fabric, “Moisture Content” is alluring, all-enveloping, and evocative of fog. The grinding sounds of “Deep Current” fill the entire building, gearing up to periodically drop polypropylene balls from the ceiling (referencing the hydroelectric power of Niagara Falls). “Uplift,” wedged into the lower mezzanine, is a cavern-like cluster of inflated fabric forms inspired by smoke billowing from burning oil wells and volcanic eruptions. And “Subterranean Sea,” on the upper mezzanine, is a field of enclosed, organic forms of clear glass containing lava-like fluids that churn in heat-induced flow.
As MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish notes, Plastic Fantastic invites viewers to, “step outside, suspend disbelief, and enter a scene where the abstract becomes real, where we can ponder just what is so natural about nature.”
Lee Boroson: Plastic Fantastic: through Sept. 7, Mass MoCA, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, massmoca.org.
—Laura Holland