Toby Zallman
- Plastic Bags in Water 5; 2018, Ink jet prints on muslin and paper, plastic bags and pastel, approximately 90x104x48 inches
- Plastic Bags in Water 5; 2018, detail
- omplicit 6 Months; 2018 and Complicit 8 Months; 2019, Discarded plastic, each approximately 72x20x20 inches
- Complicit 6 Months; detail
- Coral 1; 2019, Plastic bags on steel armature; 39x36x12 inches
- Brain Coral; 2021, Plastic bags on steel wire; 21x17x13 inches
- Ice Mountain; 2021, Plastic water bottles, 18x16x16 inches
- Water Bottle Drawing; 2019, Ink Jet prints and pastel on muslin, 85x139 inches
- Water Bottle Drawing; 2019; detail
- Plastic Bags in Water 3; 2018, Laser prints and graphite, 60x117 inches
I am a Chicago artist whose art practice focuses on sculpture and drawing. I have exhibited both locally and nationally and was the recipient of several Illinois Arts Council grants, an Individual Artist Program Grant, City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and have had artist residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and Ragdale.
My art transforms toxic refuse into evocative objects of abstract seduction, that bring a sense of beauty to environmentally devastating situations and arouse cognitive dissonance in viewers. Since 2005, I have made both sculptures and drawings which respond to the by-products of our society’s rampant consumerism. I want the work to incite both pleasure and a disturbing awareness of the degradation of our oceans, land and bodies. My involvement with the group, Organizing for Plastic Alternatives, has channeled some energy towards finding practical solutions to these problems.