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Art From Detritus
Art from Detritus is an exhibit of art to save the planet. How dare I make such a potentially pretentious statement?
My humble answer is that the art shown in these exhibits is made from the stuff we usually throw away or toss on the street without thinking.
Frankly, detritus is just a fancy word for trash. It's all just art from trash.
It's both the beautiful found objects we salvage & those unexpectedly interesting bits of trash that inspire us to recycle (paste, tear, paint and assemble) into something priceless and yet so valuable that we frame it carefully to display proudly on our walls.
And so, these artists are recycling in the biggest sense of that word through their creative approach of using trash, garbage and found objects to make their art. They each are helping to save the planet and perhaps, their efforts will encourage you to think of ways we can leave the earth intact and filled with natural resources for generations to come.
To date there have been 11 exhibits of Art from Detritus (See AFD's vita & history) since 1994.
Take some time to check out the works from 2002, 2003, & 2004 below (images from shows from 2005, 2006, and 2007 are in the works). Don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like the show brought to your community, are interested in possessing one of the artworks (almost all are for sale) or just want to let me know your reaction.
And if you are an artist who makes art from trash, please send your slides along with a bio and sase, and perhaps you will be invited to participate in the next Art from Detritus show. Send them by snail mail to me at Bx 1149, NY NY 10013.
Vernita Nemec aka N'Cognita
Artist & curator
Like a bird might collect
Like a bird might collect
shining things for its nest,
I save the detritus of my daily life.
Stuff that is no longer
Useful or of value --
if it ever was.
I see in it a kind of beauty
& want to try
to transform
the lowly into art.
So I fill my space
with collected fragments.
I save envelopes with pretty patterns
broken goblets and dead roses
thinking they hold a story
& if re-arranged & put back
together, will have some strange
indecipherable meaning.
n'cognita, 2002
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Click here to look at the Art from Detritus Show that I curated in 2004 at Synagogue for the Arts in New York City.
Click here to look at the 2003 Art from Detritus Show, held at John Jay College.
Click here to look at the 2002 show, also at John Jay College. A review of the show appeared in the summer 2002 issue of Gallery & Studio available free at most NYC galleries. Click here to see the review. Catalogs from 1994, 1995 & 1996 are still available for $10 including shipping & handling. Send a check to Art from Detritus Bx 1149, NY NY 10013.
If you are interested in purchasing an artwork from any of the shows, please contact me by emailing ncognita@earthfire.org
or email me through the "contact" icon above. I'll let you know which artworks are still available & give you the necessary information for purchasing.
Special thanks to L. Brandon Krall who created the Detritus pages.
Vernita N'Cognita
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