This Brazilian artist conjures works of art from used plastic bags

A detail of a recreation of the painting 'The Scream' by Edvard Munch made with plastic by Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur. Photo: Reuters

Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur reproduces works by renowned masters without using a drop of paint - just recycled shreds of plastic picked up from city streets and rivers.

For his latest exhibition, he has copied Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and Warhol to draw attention to pollution caused by the accumulation of plastic waste.

"These works will remain for centuries in the history of mankind, and so will the plastic that we are dumping in nature," he said in his Sao Paulo studio.

Srur's show Natureza Plástica (Plastic Nature) will premiere in Sao Paulo in the second half of 2021.

Srur puts pieces of plastic bags in a box to recreate famous paintings as part of his new series 'Plastic Nature' in his studio in Sao Paulo. Photo: Reuters

The artist has long worked to raise awareness about the environment, creating enormous installations in public spaces around Sao Paulo, often along the city's heavily polluted rivers.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Srur's focus returned to the studio, where he swapped paint brushes for a pair of tweezers, working coloured plastic through holes in a board to form images.

"Plastic dominates everything and everyone today, so in this series I create artwork that has no paint or glue, just bits of plastic bags that end up making the image you see," he said. - Reuters