New York City, like a lot of places on earth, has tons of garbage. Instead of letting the disposal trucks have their way with the waste, Justin Gignac turns it into art pieces (or collected junk, depending on how you look at it) that he shamelessly (just kidding) sells for $50 each.
Short of being unsightly eyesores, each collection of New York rubbish surprisingly looks cool. There is obviously a method to the madness (you have to admit, the idea’s pretty out there) and Justin’s is pretty simple.
All pieces of garbage are hand-picked by the artist (yes, I’m hesitantly calling him that), who carefully arranges them into neat clear boxes, which are then signed, numbered and dated like a limited edition masterpiece. He is picky with the scraps he chooses, avoiding anything that can potentially leak or smell. For the most part, the trash he chooses to bundle is usually pretty benign, such as plastic utensils, maps, tickets and bottles – you don’t have to worry about getting used needles and such.
As it turns out, Justin has been running the scam art project for the last three years and started selling the pieces at $10 each, raising them once he gained more publicity. He has now sold over 700 sets across 19 countries and 41 states. Want to own a piece of New York history? This isn’t it, but it will probably do.
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If regular trash isn’t your thing, you can also order limited edition boxes of trash collected at Yankee Stadium and during New Year’s Eve for $100 apiece.
NYC Garbage via Geekologie