A Beautiful Find - Uwishunu

September 25th, 2008

A Beautiful Find @ the James Oliver Gallery

Posted by John Steele

tagged as Arts

This summer saw the city of Philadelphia enacting drastic reforms in the way waste is dealt with. From the addition of Single-Stream recycling to the acquisition of BigBelly solar powered trash compactors to city street corners. If only our legislators would have realized that the waste they were so quick to compost or compact was in fact a goldmine of artistic materials.

The artists of A Beautiful Find, the newest exhibition hitting the James Oliver Gallery, take everyday items discarded by less discerning city residents and make them into works of art. From sepia-toned Arctic Splash bottles to the art of Baskin Robins samples spoons, one mans trash is truly an artists’ treasure.

Steven Earl Weber has created two pieces, School Supplies and Through This Gruff Exterior, that show the seedy underbelly just below the surface. One found sculpture resembles drugs under the floorboards, the other a school desk filled with guns.

Weber joins a star-studded cast of Philly artists including past and current members of Man Man, Steven and Billy Dufala, Philadelphia playwright and photog Justin Coffin and furniture-maker Andrew Brehm, fresh off his award-winning work at the Tyler Arboretum’s Totally Terrific Treehouses exhibit.

The exhibit runs through October 6th. The James Oliver Gallery is located at 723 Chestnut St. on the 4th Floor.

The James Oliver Gallery (4th Floor)
723 Chestnut St, Philadelphia PA