Profile | Mark Mendez

My Dear Andrea... Oh how I've known you for so many years. I am very proud of you in the way you faithfully attach these issues to your everyday life where at this point you are being recognized for doing so. You truly are an example of "one person can make a difference". I have consciously made a heavy effort in reducing my waste, recycling what can be recycled and working toward making the products I use -- REusable as possible. My art has been influenced by many of these causes and for many years has helped me commit to the actions I preach. Reusing water bottles with my own filtered water. More specifically with my art, using old scraps of wood, windows and other blank "canvases" found in the piles of trash. The warmth and character it brings to my work really helps me to complete my pieces. One campaign I've been playing around with in my head for months is the concept of bringing your own tupperware to eating establishments. Though it's best to purchase organic and locally grown/raised products to cook yourself, it's nice to eat out from time to time. If there was a way to establish a socially acceptable act in where leftovers are supplied no longer in styrofoam and plastic togo containers... but instead stowed away in your own reusable plastic-ware. Imagine the reduction of those containers littering the lands and seas. It's virtually the same act as bringing your own canvas grocery bags to the supermarkets. What do you think?