Artist Justin Gignac is a genius. He has succeeded in making garbage a desired commodity by constricting supply.
Huh?
Over a decade ago, he elevated common, and sometimes not-so-common, New York City Garbage to the level of art by carefully picking through it and putting a curated collection of it in a clear acrylic cube. Strangely, there is a strong aesthetic appeal to the cubes, and they definitely make you think about waste: where it came from, where it goes, and the general notion of, “gosh, we sure do have a lot of it.”
The cubes o’ garbage sold like hotcakes. 50 bucks a box, and $100 for garbage from special events like Obama’s inauguration, St. Patrick’s Day, and the final opening day at the old Yankee Stadium. The idea of putting garbage on a pedestal (or in this case, a display box) for all to see and, strangely enough, admire, resonated with people. Again: pure genius.
And then two years ago, Justin stopped making the trash cubes, and perversely enough, garbage was no longer available. Almost (but not really) sad.
But fear not! Trash is back. Justin has made some new artworthy garbage collections. There is the “regular” New York Garbage, and also Gay Marriage Garbage and Giants Parade Garbage.
And of course, they are limited editions. So if you want some garbage, you better jump on it and order one today.
What do you think about creating art out of trash? Share your thoughts below.
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Andrew Sell is Founder and Chief Hipcycler at Hipcycle, an e-commerce site for great upcycled products. When not fixating on upcycling, he fixates on...ghost poop.
