While exploring the city with the UD team, we ventured into the Essex Street Market and stopped into the Guchifritos Art Gallery, where the work of artist Miwa Koizumi immediately caught our attention. The work, plastic water bottles artfully cut, melted and reconfigured into realistic looking jellyfish seemed to float in mid air in the small corner of the contemporary art gallery. This project is called PET pets where the former PET stands for (polyethylene terephthalate) the type of recyclable plastic the water bottles are made out of. The artist, Koizumi, writes on her website, "I love the idea of using liquid containers to make water animals. Contained/containing, trash/not-trash, like the jellyfish or anemone: living/non-living."
These days trash is not just treasure but art and these jellyfish bring out the true beauty of the plastic water bottle. If you haven't been to the Essex Street Market check it out the next time you're in the Lower East Side.
