HISTORICAL RUBBISH

These works depict compilations of objects commonly used within the history of painting as a critique of the traditional Western canon of art. I extracted common elements from their original sources and recontextualized them as a collected pile, like rubbish, to visually discard as cliché rather than to individually revere. The subject matter depicts collections of items that were repeated motifs of their day, representing ideals of opulence, beauty and knowledge. A canon lays claim to permanence, as it is thought to be valid independent of time and place. In producing these works as ruinous rubbish, I seek to question this history. I look to place these so-called distinguishing traits of better, good, and best on an equal and lesser level as simply a pile of stuff that is no different than a pile of trash to be discarded.