ONE MAN'S TRASH

Art collective Co2 takes discarded materials and turns them into reminders to preserve Mother Earth

- STUART DANKER

CO2, ALSO KNOWN AS KARBON DIOKSIDA, is an art collective founded by Oscar Lee and Celine Tan, two ex-architects who decided to pursue their passion for art, all while highlighting the environmental issues we face here in Malaysia.

But getting there wasn’t a straightforward journey. While working on their first piece titled The Eyes Of Muar (when nothing was promised and they were operating solely off passion), both Oscar and Celine juggled freelance architectural design work alongside their art project.

They would also experiment with various other gigs to put food on the table: creating murals, graphics design, making and selling handmade items, conducting art classes, drawing portraits, building models, and even making wedding decor.

But it’s after their more recent successes and features in the media that they started phasing out architectural work and focusing more on their art. What’s interesting is that their projects sometimes take them away from home, and so they lead a somewhat nomadic life during these stints. Sometimes they even stay at their client’s house to get the job done, falling into the romantic stereotype of the artist’s life.

It’s not just about the artist’s life, however, as Lee and Tan both bring different skills to the table. “Normally, Celine is the one who does the marketing, paperwork and meeting the clients. While we brainstorm ideas together, I’m usually the one who experiments on different materials and I create the art.”