Polar Views

Pleks Kustom

“Demonstrates how ‘we’ are trashing the planet, by….. trashing the planet. Brilliant.

Next, he can emphasize poverty by starving some homeless people.”

……………………………………………………………….

“I think it is a brilliant statement and I hope the media will report on this more and increase covering the local and global environmental aspect “

So this polar bear appeared on the Cap a couple of weeks ago and certainly started a debate which has got to be a good thing. The man behind the polar bear is Pleks who on instagram describes his work as graffiti, illustration and street poetry.

The bear is a poignant message of what we are doing to our beautiful  planet. Love it or hate it you can’t deny that the message  is a valid one. I for one am proud to have it on the Cap!

Of course there will always be critics of an installation like this one. Therefore I decided to meet the man behind the Caps newest resident. I wanted to find out the motivation behind the Polar bear and also allow him to respond to some of the criticism aimed at him.

Tell me a bit about how and why the polar bear came to be.

One day I was just chilling on the little beach with some friends. We were by the broken walls just past  the plage des Ondes.I was looking at the broken sea wall and it gave me an idea.  I said to my friend it would be cool to maybe paint a part of the wall white and put a polar bear.

When I left to go home I drove past Plage des Ondes and  saw this rock sticking out of the water. As soon as I saw it I thought wow! actually I have to put a Polar Bear on that rock.

That’s when the idea really came to life. As soon as I got back to my studio I started to try to build what was in my head. Using strips of wood I began to construct the Polar Bears head and then it’s skeleton but it was impossible for me to make it look good. I am not a sculptor or an artist so it was a challenge .At one point I thought about using cardboard but then that wouldn’t have worked with the water. Eventually I came up with the idea of using plastic to build it. It’s hard wearing, pliable, waterproof and stable.

I have travelled a lot in my life, I have been to Africa, Morocco, Brazil, US. Everywhere I go I see a lot of trash, and I mean a lot. Even here I pick up rubbish every day so I decided to use plastic trash. As soon as I thought of using rubbish to construct it the Polar Bear started to make perfect sense to me.

To be honest originally I just had the idea of making a polar bear, that’s it. However the process of actually producing it then turned it into something more meaningful.

I am really not trying to preach to people, I am just expressing myself. I don’t sit in my workshop thinking I am going to make a big statement about this or that, no, I see a spot which inspires and idea that’s it. There’s no deep hidden agenda behind what I do. In the case of my polar bear that’s exactly what happened I had the idea and the meaning or message, if you want to call it that, came after and organically.

Where did you get the rubbish from?

On the beach, on the streets, in the woods. I go out with my dog a lot and I always I pick up plastic and rubbish. It’s everywhere, so that’s what I used.

How did you install it?

Three of us went to Plage des Ondes around 4am to put it there. I had a little inflatable kayak with me and we put the bear on top of it. We then had to wade out to the rock in the dark, in fact it was pitch black. We couldn’t see a thing, I didn’t know there were so many sharp rocks under the water. Although I had trainers on I cut myself all over my legs. In total it took us about an hour to completely install it. First we had to blow up the kayak, then we stayed on the beach for a while just to make sure no one was around, then we waded out to the rock.We were very careful to make sure it was securely tied down and that it wouldn’t move.

What will happen to the polar bear?

It will stay there for a few weeks and then I will remove it.

What do you say to people who accuse you of making the problem worse by putting more plastic into the sea?

I was aware before I made the bear that people would critisise me for it. That’s why I made sure it was all securely stuck together, nothing on it moves and I made sure it didn’t touch the water.

There are also people who keep an eye on it. Friends who make sure it isn’t coming apart. If it starts to deteriorate in any way we will know and then we will come and take it away.

I am not sure why some people aim their aggression at me really. Why don’t they aim their aggression at the big boats, the big bosses, the people throwing their cigarette butts in the street. I don’t think I am the problem here.

As I said before I do what I do because I wanted to and to be honest I don’t care what anyone thinks.

At the beginning of this project  I had a lot of people questioning my motivation and asking me to justify my use of materials, message etc. I felt like they wanted an argument but for me they are arguing with the wrong person.

If you want to fight something fight the power don’t fight me.

People would prefer me to make nothing I guess? However, in my opinion, what I do doesn’t hurt anyone. I am just illustrating my vision of the world, how you react to it is up to you.

I guess at least people are talking about it.

Pleks Kustom on FB

Pleks Kustom on Instagram

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