Thomas Deininger is a Rhode Island based artist whose work combines environmental concerns with an innovative approach to image making. His found object assemblages are constructed from non-recyclable, non-biodegradable materials that pile up in our nation’s landfills. Works like this provide a thoughtful response to mass consumerism. He asks the viewer to reconsider the potential for transcendence of the mundane. His works are in many private and public collections throughout the world.
In his early twenties, he traveled the world for several years exploring Europe, Central America, and the South Pacific. It was during these explorations that Deininger developed thoughts on American consumerism as he witnessed the frugal resourcefulness of non-industrial cultures and the problems of waste blanketing the shores of distant islands. It was after a trip to the Nantucket landfill that he came up with the idea of making realist assemblages out of found materials. His detritus mosaics are a response to the ways in which mass-produced consumer cultures threaten our natural environment. They also raise questions about value, perspective, and our ability to make meaningful associations and develop thoughtful responses in a media-driven world of endless streams of materials and data.