A community biology lab in Sunset Park, Brooklyn is turning natural pigments, algae yarn, and alternative clays into art supplies, and four artists are showing why those swaps matter. The Source Materials: A Bioart Exhibit opened at Flux IV in Queens during Climate Week, giving visitors a chance to see what happens when artists stop buying synthetic paint and start growing their own.
The show comes after a summer of never-ending heatwaves and natural disasters made worse by the climate crisis. Artists who work on environmental issues now have a new path forward: making art with materials that break down naturally, rather than sitting in landfills for decades.
The Lab Behind the Show
Sunset Park’s Genspace is a community biology lab. Its artists are using the space to test out materials that come from living things — pigments pressed from plants, yarn grown from algae, and clay made from local soil.
These are not replacements for convenience. They are replacements for permanence. The idea is not that every artist should switch overnight. It is that the materials themselves change how art gets made.
Becca Rodriguez on Natural Color
Becca Rodriguez is one of the artists featured in the exhibit. She focuses on natural pigments, the kind humans used before paint tubes existed. Her work looks back at a time when artists had to find color from what grew around them.
Rodriguez points out that some natural colorants are already familiar to artists today. Indigo, cochineal, and turmeric are names most painters recognize. But there are thousands of other organic sources of color waiting to be tested.
She also notes that some pigments carry deep meaning in Indigenous communities and artistic traditions across the Global South. Those cultural ties mean the materials are not just functional — they carry history with them.
What the Show Offers
The three-day run at Flux IV lets viewers see the results of that work in person. The exhibit centers on the artistic potential of natural pigments, algae yarn, and alternative clays. The artists are not arguing that these materials are better than synthetic ones. They are showing that they offer different ways of seeing.
One key point from the exhibit is that these substitutions do not have to be exact copies. A pigment made from a plant can behave differently than a store-bought tube. That difference opens new creative challenges. It also changes how artists think about the objects they make and the processes behind them.
The Community Science Approach
The work at Genspace depends on a shared approach. Artists collaborate with each other and with the lab’s resources.
The exhibit itself is part of a larger push to connect art with local ecosystems. Artists are not just drawing attention to the climate crisis. They are working with the materials that live nearby.
Why This Matters Now
The timing could not be clearer. The summer brought extreme heat and disasters that hit harder because of climate change. Artists are responding by looking at the physical things they use daily.
Synthetic art supplies have dominated the market for generations. They are easy to buy, easy to ship, and easy to throw away. The Genspace artists are asking whether that ease comes at too high a cost.
What Visitors Can See
The exhibit runs for three days at Flux IV in Queens. The show is part of Climate Week.
For artists who want to see what sustainability looks like in practice, the exhibit offers examples of what is possible. For viewers who care about the environment, it shows that creativity can be part of the solution.
The Future of Art-Making
The artists at Genspace are not waiting for permission. They are testing and trying again in a shared space. Their work asks a simple question: what if the materials we use were chosen for how they end?
That is a practical question with a moral edge. It is also a creative one. The exhibit shows that natural materials can hold their own against anything sold in a store.
A Short Look at the Schedule
| Day | Event |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Exhibition opens |
| Day 2 | Exhibition continues |
| Day 3 | Exhibition closes |
The exhibit is still running its three-day schedule at Flux IV. The work continues at Genspace, where artists keep testing new materials.
“Such substitutions needn’t be one-to-one swaps; instead, natural materials can unlock new creative challenges and shift our relationships to art objects and processes at large.”
That quote captures the spirit of the whole project. The artists are not trying to recreate the past. They are building something new with what nature already provides.
The exhibit is still on. What remains is a model for how artists can work with their surroundings rather than against them.
Source material: “Four Artists Exploring Sustainable Alternatives to Synthetic Art Supplies,” Hyperallergic.
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