Gestalt of a Crate

For the group show Ecosistemi at Biagiotti Progetto Arte curated by Silvia Bellotti and Carlotta Mazzoli, DeBlassie recontextualizes recycled black plastic produce crates into almost unrecognizable mazelike and cityscape-suggesting forms that reference through notions of the container some of the most essential needs for survival including environmental wellbeing, shelter, and food. By cutting, arranging and thereby altering the black plastic crates to become small pieces that form a larger whole, DeBlassie shows that the gestalt of the crate can encourage an experiential grappling of just how delicate the aforementioned needs and resources are and how each individual plays a role in maintaining the ecological equilibrium. Through the fragmented, magnified, and reflective labyrinth that the grid-like plastic crates create, the artist urges viewers to become more conscious about the necessity of a maze-like perceptual shift in which the contemporary obsession with excess ends and leads to a reexamination of priorities, a reconceptualization of how materials are used and re-used, and a refocus on essential needs.