“Future Returns” by Dan Rawlins. All photos by Mark Bickerdike, shared with permission.
In perhaps the not so distant future, sculptor Dan Rawlings (previously) imagines a world where machinery from the unsustainable energy industry is now a relic of the past, slowly overtaken by nature in a state of decomposition. In his latest sculpture titled Future Returns, the artist uses his trademark plasma cutting style to etch a sizeable canopy of foliage that emerges from the steel shell of a reclaimed oil tanker. The work is currently housed inside a 19th-century church in Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, England. From a statement about the project:
Future Returns invites us to examine our own part in commercialization and the resulting changes to our natural environment. Rawlings believes it is easy to demonize industry but we must acknowledge that it has allowed life as we know it to bloom. It is our ability to design, create and produce that has put towns like Scunthorpe on the global map. He also believes oil companies have much to answer for, from the state of our environment to mistrust of science.
Future Returns will be on view through September 25, 2021 and you can book free viewing times on the Visual Arts Centre website. (via Creative Boom)