Coke Goes Green

A couple of weeks back, I showed y'all some green art. As in environmentally green art. A rendition of a Van Gogh classic 'painted' with plants and flowers on the side of a museum in London. See that post HERE. Now, however, I have some new green art for you, though this time it is art of the commercial variety. Coca-Cola, in conjunction with the World Wildlife Federation [WWF], unveiled a new billboard in the Philippines that is actually good for the environment.

The 60 x 60 square foot "living" billboard in Manila is made up of thousands of Fukien tea plants surrounding the iconic curvy shape of a silver Coke bottle. The project, with the CO2-eating plants was created in conjunction with Coca-Cola Philippines’ Live Positively sustainability program.

Pots made from recycled bottles contain the 3,600 trees, which live off a mixture of organic fertilizers, and although the plants are in the first stages of growth, they are expected to grow quickly, completely taking over the billboard surface, absorbing a total of 46,800 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Now that's green art.
And why can't we have that here?

source

Art Wednesday: Van Gogh Gogh's Green

Vincent Van Gogh painted 'A Wheatfield, with Cypresses' in September 1889, while in the St-Rémy mental asylum, near Arles, where he was a patient from May 1889 until May 1890. He made a promise to his brother that, while hospitalized, he would send 'twelve size 30 canvases' and it seems likely that 'A Wheatfield, with Cypresses' was one of them.

Now, it has become the first living painting in London's Trafalgar Square, and maybe the first living painting anywhere. Á Wheatfield with Cypresses' has been turned into a green living vertical wall, and is being used as a way to get people into the National Gallery to see the real thing.

The living painting has been constructed by a horticulture and design company which specialises in green walls and roofs. They used over 8,000 plants of 25 different varieties. In order to recreate the strong bands of colour in the painting, plants were selected to match the tones. They were then hand-planted into a modular system according to a numbered drawing. The 640 modules were grown vertically at a nursery, ready for installation.
It took 3 days to install the wall which will remain there throughout the summer and autumn, until the end of October. Given the range of plants; some flowering now, some later, it will be interesting to watch how it grows and changes over the coming seasons.
The painting was "brought to life" as part of the Gallery's long-term plan to reduce its carbon footprint. It's all part of the National Gallery's plan to go green.
Green art.
It's a good thing.
 
via treehugger