A rigid acrylic bag is held on a pole and appears to catch the wind, a piece of the sky. At night, the bag is illuminated by a sky blue light. The piece addresses the relationship between the waste of our technology, demonstrated by the universally despised plastic bag, and the natural environment fundamental to our being. The bag has an LED light – powered by a small solar panel – illuminating the concept at night and literally highlighting an issue that should not be ignored. This work was originally created for the beach at Worthing.

Tuppeny completed an MA in fine art in 2016, and his work also received an award in the National Sculpture Prize that year. Paul is currently undertaking a PhD at Chelsea College of Art researching the use of age phenomena and material temporality as expressive media in contemporary sculpture. 

Paul Tuppeny’s current output follows a number of divergent strands bound together by an interest in the way that we present our species to ourselves. This involves temporal themes developing from our sense and recognition that the human species has a lifespan far greater than that of its component individuals and draws on the visual language of presented history to examine our own times and legacies. As a gregarious species, we hold within us an inner identity which transcends the individual, the self and the now. In presentations of his work, Paul has sometimes used the poems of Seamus Heaney to illustrate how an object can stimulate and gather complex stories within the viewer and also to show the portrayal of time beyond the viewer’s immediate experience. Heaney’s poems have been likened to long-exposure photographs where disparate events wrap around one another in a single frame. This analogy could apply equally to Paul Tuppeny’s practice. Works are predominantly 3 dimensional but often incorporate images as a means of broadening their scope and content. The materials and form for each work are selected to reflect the embedded message or objective of the piece.

Our Planting Scheme

This sculpture was partnered with our existing bamboo on the waters edge. Bamboo is being used in bio plastics and biodegradable packing. These products are slowly starting to replace single use plastics and could stop the pollution of our oceans and waterways.