Jules Vitali came up with the term
syrtogami. Here he is in his home
holding a styrogami piece.
"Styrogami is sculpture evolved from
mentally extrapolating the trash and
waste proliferation and combining the
exponential growth of world population
while factoring in rain forest depletion
rates with due consideration given to the
half-life of stored nuclear waste and the
destruction potential inherent in modern
day weaponry. I have come up with the
visionary concept that we may indeed be
presently and blindly basking in the glory
of our final historical footnote, leaving no
future generations to learn the hard
lessons that the destruction of one's own
planet will teach. Though I disdain the
Styrofoam cup and the throwaway society
it represents, Styrogami is, nonetheless,
something metaphorically exquisite to
admire as we walk this path to the
gallows."
J. Jules Vitali
J. Jules Vitali has spent 23 years developing and perfecting Styrogami, which now
exists in a number of forms. Each one of these delicate creations is sculpted from a
single cup. The whole cup is utilized, nothing is thrown away. Every unique piece has
been carved with the same two-bladed jack knife, a 32 year-old Sears brand
Craftsman...no longer manufactured. Every piece that has been sculpted has come from
a "found" cup, meaning it was acquired from some source other than purchase. Many
still have the coffee or road dirt still on them. Styrogami is an art of expression, not one
of perfection.
"I graduated from High School in 1964. It had been four and a half billion years since
the beginning of Earth's geologic time. The population of the planet that June was
roughly about three point two billion people, and it took that whole four and a half
billion years for that to happen. Today is February 9th, 2008(12:50 GMT), almost forty
four brief years since my graduation and the estimated world population today is six
billion six hundred forty nine million four hundred fifty nine thousand eight hundred
thirty five. Let your children do the math."
Birds at the Fountain
Quixote's Subjunction
SnakeRoosterRat
3-Ring Circuits
Shark Tank(polystyrene & acrylic),
Backbone
Davio Six(polystyrene & acrylic)
~ currently at the Northport Gallery,
Northport, Maine ~
Zygurnic(silicon bronze)
A representative piece of
Jules Vitali’s "Styrogami." The
pieces are now being cast in
bronze and sterling silver. A
month-long solo exhibit of
Vitali’s work has just wrapped
up at Lemarche Gallery,
Bowdoin College,
Brunswick. Next scheduled
exhibit wil be April, 2002 at
the Freeport Historical
Society.