A Sicilian waste dump is housing an
unusual and eclectic art show
The municipal dump at Sambuca di Sicilia near Agrigento now
plays host to a wide variety of paintings hung on its walls,
together with small sculptures, miniatures and statuettes.
It is not an actual gallery but an exhibition combining the
vintage and the kitsch.
The works include old 'crusts' and copies of famous artists
ranging from Renaissance masters to French Impressionists,
reproductions of archaeological sites like the Valley of the
Temples and Segesta, and votive objects and holy images
including those of Padre Pio and Pope Francis.
There are also pencil and chalk drawings of children.
Among all the recycled works is a disquieting coloured plastic
sculpture of a women's head that seems to be coming out of a
rubbish bin.
The creator of the exhibition is the local 'ecological island'
chief, Franco Di Prima, 62, who has for years been putting
together this zany collection of objects plucked from among the
local rubbish.
"I love my work," says the municipal waste area employee with an
artistic bent.
"That's why I keep the dump spick and span, like a mirror, and I
have also tried to embellish it with these pictures. Among the
rubbish I have found all kinds of things, even a gold bracelet
and a pair of ancient candelabra. Not forgetting furniture and
old furnishings and decorations that can be restored and find
new life".
Experts have likened his collection to the Trash Art of famous
artists like Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Burri and Piero Manzoni.
Di Prima is keen to get everything into the waste cycle so he
can glean all he needs.
The unknowing epigon of Trash Art even admonished a local
councillor recently for dropping a cigarette butt on the ground,
saying "no, pick it up at once, that goes into the
undifferentiated waste!"
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