Troika

- by Aurora Robson

2017

108” x 112” x 120”

Welded plastic debris, hardware, LEDs, solar panels

Troika, like much of Aurora Robson’s work, was inspired by the recurring images that haunted her dreams when she was a child. This curiously-shaped trio, sculpted from plastic debris, is the result of Robson’s practice of transforming bad into good, turning “displaced abundance” into works of art. Seen at night, her sculptures, lit by internal solar-powered lights, become enchanted objects that glow from within.

“Art and garbage are polar opposites,” says Robson, “yet they are the two things we leave behind on earth. Once transformed into art, debris becomes the antithesis of itself.” She defines her approach to art as a “meditative practice of transformation,” where the goal is to “establish value where it ought to have been recognized in the first place. The key for me is often factoring in the big picture—imagining myself in outer space peering at this solitary planet that supports life. We are stardust with a temporary heartbeat.”

Aurora Robson was born in Toronto, raised in Hawaii, and now lives and works in Hudson Valley, NY. Robson is a multi-media artist-activist whose work has been widely exhibited across the United States and abroad and has been featured in Sculpture Magazine, WIRED, Art in America, BBC News the Forum, and numerous other publications. She is also a founding member of Project Vortex, an international collective of artists, designers, and architects who work in innovative ways with plastic debris.