a day ago
Art made from trash is treasured at San Francisco gallery exhibit
San Francisco artists are turning heads by turning rubbish into works worthy to be put on display at one of the city's most-renowned galleries.
To most people, a dump is just a dump. But to Deena Qabazard, it's a full-service art supply store with a very flexible return policy.
"Sometimes you look and you're like, 'No!' and then sometimes the unexpected car comes and you're like, 'Oh my goodness, fantastic!'" said Deena Qabazard, a Kuwaiti-American artist who has been mining the muck for years, looking to give old objects a new spark.
On this particular morning, she scores a bracelet, a mirror, and a string of chandelier crystals, all ready for their second act. Back in her studio, those finds turn into collages of metal, textiles, and photographs, much of it pulled straight from the dump.
"Now I'm kind of just playing around compositionally, what it looks like," Qabazard said.
As climate concerns take center stage, repurposed art is getting more wall space and less side-eye from the art world.
Exhibit A: The latest show from the city's garbage collector, Recology, which for 35 years has run an artist-in-residence program, now on display at the city's famed Minnesota Street Project.
Deborah Munk, who runs the program, said 99% of the materials are what is referred to as upcycled.
"Artists have been using trash for a long time, but maybe for different reasons because they couldn't afford it. But now, with all the environmental issues we're dealing with, it's becoming more apparent," Munk said.
From self-portraits made with discarded mirrors and the artist's own hair, to installations built from pool floats left high and dry, and even one of Qabazard's earlier pieces, a weathered photograph, surrounded by scraps, all pulled from the city's trash and meant to reframe how we see beauty.
"It's really important for younger generations to see we can reuse things and transform them, how they can expand our imagination," Qabazard said.
The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence exhibit runs through August 30 at Minnesota Street Project.
