After nearly a quarter century of collaboration, local artists Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang excavated their two-ton collection of beach-found plastic objects to showcase a sampling of “all of it” so that we might see our consumer choices reflected in their materials. This assorted thermoplastic junk-treasure dating back to as early as 1948 washed in from the Pacific Ocean onto one beach, a .6-mile stretch of the Point Reyes National Seashore, 50 miles north of San Francisco. 

At The Guardhouse, playfully installed for us to find amid the toothbrushes and flip-flops—and enlarged in six new photographic prints—is a highlighted selection of toy soldiers and other action figures. For the artists, these weathered, often broken children’s toys, which are played with by generations, serve to evoke nostalgia while recalling the military history of Fort Mason, ultimately signaling an environmental battle of epic proportions.

Employing plastic as both material and subject, Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang at The Guardhouse beckons us to confront almost 25 years worth of collected junk. With evidence of this material continuing to amass not just in coastal deposits, but inside our bodies, and in the geological record of our time on planet earth, looking through the windows of The Guardhouse might help us reflect on “all of it” and ask ourselves—can we do with less?

Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang at The Guardhouse is presented by FOR-SITE in partnership with Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The Guardhouse Program is made possible thanks to generous support from the ARB Fund.