Thomas Deininger is an environmental artist from Rhode Island. He creates 3D art installations and pieces using items that he finds in landfills and garbage dumps across Rhode Island. Using the items he finds, Thomas Deininger turns them into completely different. He is most famous for his animal portraits. When viewed from the front, the animal is clearly visible, but when you get close to the piece or view it from the side, the sculpture comes apart and you can see the individual items used to build it. He creates these pieces as a statement to how consumerism is harmful to plant and animal life.
I chose Thomas Deininger to research for this presentation because of my interest in Ecology and Evolution. In freshman year, I was in Dr. Sharon Pochron’s Worm Lab where I looked at the effects of plastic leachate on the survivability of earthworms. This experience started my interest in ecotoxicology. I was able to find Thomas Deininger through a social media compilation of artists who were making really unique pieces. I found his work to be very intriguing especially the “come apart” aspect of it.