There is absolutely no shortage of garbage, and any piece of trash can be used to create an amazing sculpture. Trash is the perfect medium for artists, especially those who lack money for supplies, as it is 100 percent free and plentiful. When you see an abandoned object that speaks to you artistically, do the world a favor and use it in any way, shape or form. Boundaries do not exist in the world of art.
Take the concept of garbage beyond soiled baby diapers and smelly banana peels by creating something beautiful out of it. Sculpted roses cut from brightly colored plastic and perched in an old paint can, or a wreath made of outdated computer cords and cell-phone parts cast a different light on salvaged materials.
Rather than feeling guilty or ashamed of your unwanted stuff, flaunt it within your art. Celebrate and extend the shelf-life of the things you've purchased and no longer need by creating a personal sculpture out of it. Plastic items such as beauty accessories can be assembled to create an interesting collage, or arranged within an otherwise lackluster picture frame by using a hot glue gun. If you have a big and bold artistic personality, go for the heavy junk items that you don't need. Your old computer, a rusty old broken bicycle or a pair of boots unfit for charity are wonderfully strange objects to work with.
Art made from garbage can be used to make a statement about the environment and foster creative problem-solving. This type of art can be part of a traveling display that goes from school to school, educating children and stirring up the imagination. Contact your village hall or a coffee house that you frequent and ask permission to present your work and leave it open for comments, or to be purchased. You just might inspire somebody else to take on the wonderful task of making recycled art.
A number of artists regularly show their trash creations in galleries. Any artist who uses garbage within their work has a passion and concern for the environment and utilizes innovative approaches to combining the materials and design. One particular artist, Vik Muniz, captures the beauty found within garbage and the struggling impoverished garbage pickers, or "catadores," from his Brazilian homeland. These catadores try to survive by digging through acres of garbage dump wastelands to find items that can be resold. Growing up poor himself, he has not only made a statement by assembling picked garbage remnants and creating massive portraits of these people which he photographs from above, but donates all profits of this particular series to the catadores who inspired him.