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Eco-Art May 14, 2008

Garbage Art -- Or The Art of Garbage?

Trash is Taking the Art World by Storm

Garbage Art, or, the technique that incorporates trash, waste, or any type of discarded refuse into artistic compositions, is rapidly growing in popularity. This trend is a prime example of art imitating life—as the call to recycle, conserve resources, and live responsibly becomes a more and more important and prominent concept in our society, the artistic world has aptly followed suit. Utilizing garbage is not only a sustainable means of constructing works of art, it’s also often a way to say something larger about society as a whole, and the way we interact with our material goods.

The following is a small compilation of some of the most intriguing and innovative pieces to incorporate trash. Check it out:

NYC Garbage

Sculpture artist Justin Gignac collects garbage from New York City streets and builds unique, one-of-a-kind air tight cubes that he fills with a random assortment of trash. Each cube has the date and location where the trash was collected.

Pantherhouse.com

This site has some incredible trash sculpture work, including this incredible piece by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, comprised of a full six months of their garbage!

Pink Tentacle

These garbage bags have been decorated in an effort to transform the unsightly problem of Japanese neighborhood trash into an aesthetically pleasing, colorful composition. The colors on the bags even correspond to Japan’s color codes for sorting different types of trash.