Derelict Chic

What a cool exhibit! "Rethinking Trash Into Inspired Art". I dig it.

And yes, that is a bubblewrap-plastic dress.
Check out the details:

Like whoa.
Even better is the shovel guitar....
it actually plays well too!

I especially like the seat belt strap.

Wow. Cool. Now that really is turning trash into functional art.
Better than tossing the phones into a landfill I suppose.
Even though I'm not sure I'd want them in my house,
wouldn't these look awesome in a museum display?
Or an anthropologie window display?
{I'm not totally sure why but they remind me
of that movie - - "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"}

Ohhhh, collllllaaaggggeeee.
I like colorful collages.
Especially ones like this
where you'll find something new
each time you look.

Sweet speaker housing.
Supposedly the artist found all of these suitcases
along the side of the highway.
Can you believe it?
They don't seem all that junky to me
but maybe that's just how good the artist is.

Umm... so as cool as I think some of the trash art is.....
some things are not art.
They are, as far as I can tell, irretrievably and undeniably trash.

Case in point: the tea bag quilt.

That is nasty.

Here is what the artist had to say about the work:

"This unusual quilt is created with used tea bags. Artist Ruth Tabancay has used them to "represent a geature of warmth, an article of clothing, a barrier, cells of the human body, organelles within cells." Who would have thought used tea bags could be so versatile. Tabancay uses tea bags daily, so making them a medium for her art is a great way for her to reduce waste and consumption."

Am I sickeningly cynical or does that just sound like bollocks?
1) tea bags are biodegradable, right?
2) the artist is still drinking tea....
so unless she's sleeping under the quilt
I can't tell how she's reducing her consumption
aside from refusing to buy other art supplies.
But then again, as this exhibit shows, art supplies can be free.
3) maybe tea bags are nice and warm when they're freshly dipped
but when I see a pile or "quilt" of tea bags
"warmth" does not fit within my immediate associations.
In fact, quite the opposite. I think of cold, limp, disgusting tea bags.

Ick. Just looking at the photo gives me chills!
But, then again, that is just me.