Several years ago I got an invitation from Ken Marquis, the founder of Landfillart Project to participate in an international effort encompassing one-thousand-forty-one (1,041) artists to claim a piece of rusted metal garbage and create fine art. The pieces of trash were made up of old automobile hub caps from the 1930's through the 1970's and mine arrived in a large box just a few days after our initial conversation. It was an old chrome Chevrolet piece, rusted in places and most definitely mistreated by the time it had spent in the landfills; using it as a canvas was not an option for me; this piece was begging to reveal the beauty hidden beneath the patina of time. I decided to strip the piece to its core, finding the gold underneath the silver; jackpot! The freshly unearthed metal looked as if the piece had been molded just that day... I decided to distress the piece and apply a dark patina to the surface, lightly taking off the high areas, and slowly, but surely, creating art. I loved it so much that I really didn't want to send it back. After a few days of enjoying the piece at my home, it was finally time to pack it up and ship it back to Landfillart.org, where it could do some good for our precious earth.Today I have been informed that a bunch of the pieces were chosen to be displayed at the MSV in Virginia! Here are a few other pieces which will be on display:
The exhibition of environmentally inspired contemporary art, Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art will present the works of 287 artists from every US state and 35 other countries from Sunday, September 7, 2014 and run through March 1, 2015.
In support of the opening of Second Time Around, the MSV will concurrently present WASTE NOT, a version of the exhibition Green Revolution which is made available by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service based on an exhibition originally created by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and its Black Creativity Council.
To top the cake with a cherry, my piece is being displayed on the front page of Landfillart.org; how fun is that!