One man’s trash is one other man’s treasure.
Justin Gignac has spent greater than 20 years amassing trash off the streets of the Massive Apple, packaging it in small, clear cubes and promoting them for as much as $100 a pop.
New York Metropolis Rubbish — to not be confused with the town’s Sanitation Division — is a long-term artwork challenge that Gignac says chronicles and captures “an precise piece of the town.”
“In New York, we’re well-known for our rubbish. It’s like a dwelling character of the town. And I feel being a bit infamous for being a grimy metropolis actually helps,” the artist, 46, advised The Put up.
“The model of New York Metropolis here’s a actually massive one. As an alternative of shying away from perhaps what could be seemed down upon — that we’ve a lot trash in all places — we embrace that. It’s simply part of being in New York.”
Gignac, of Forest Hills, lately loved a second of virality for plucking garbage from exterior Taylor Swift’s Madison Sq. Backyard wedding ceremony — together with a discarded ovulation check package.
However the sold-out “Not Invited Version (Taylor & Travis’ Marriage ceremony)” trash drop is simply the newest in dozens Gignac has launched since he first began amassing rubbish again in 2001.
The gig began out as a gag — one designed to spite an outdated advertising and marketing co-worker who claimed package deal design wasn’t essential, a declaration Gignac referred to as “loopy.”
The budding trash man snagged a Heineken can, slices of warning tape and bits of newspaper off the streets of Instances Sq., shoved it into a transparent dice and slapped the date on it — and efficiently bought it to a stranger.
The cubes have advanced over time to concentrate on composition — like one dice during which a Sonny Angel gingerly dangled on the rim of a Greek espresso cup.
Gignac has additionally pivoted on “drops” all through the years that seize moments in time, like Swift’s wedding ceremony or the 2026 World Cup event or again in 2011 when same-sex marriage was legalized within the Massive Apple.
“I went all the way down to the town clerk’s workplace and it was an enormous celebration. I discovered beads and confetti and ring containers. That felt very of that second in time. What we throw away is the direct reflection of who we’re and what’s taking place,” Gignac mirrored.
He’s turning the trash into actual gold — Gignac has raked in no less than $100,000 over the previous 20 years after promoting greater than 1,700 cubes at various value factors.
However the mission has largely remained the identical — the artist, armed with a rubbish picker and gloves, scours completely different neighborhoods throughout the 5 boroughs for fascinating trash till he fills up his 40-pound bag.
“I’m all the time in search of issues which are both quintessentially New York, just like the Greek espresso cup, parking tickets, metro playing cards. These issues are simply very iconic New York items of trash,” Gignac explains.
“I like discovering issues that come from individuals and have a narrative behind them, so I like discovering images, I like discovering birthday playing cards and love notes. I discovered one [love note] that was ripped in half!”
The one issues Gignac gained’t choose up are moist trash or something that may be harboring rats, he admits.
The artist’s dream is to sooner or later have a gallery present on the Museum of Fashionable Artwork during which the rubbish shall be laid out on a map of the 5 boroughs just like the iconic Panorama on the Queens Museum.
“Each main neighborhood and landmark shall be represented with rubbish so individuals can stroll via and examine and distinction and simply see, even from neighborhood to neighborhood, how completely different the rubbish is,” mentioned Gignac.
“Rubbish is collectible, and I like capturing these moments in time that have been part of historical past.”
