Pop painter and activist, MC Garbage creates paintings from photographs of garbage found all around the streets of the world. Real modern landscapes, his paintings are snapshots of our everyday lives and reveal the true futility of our society.
A critique of consumer society
Born in April 1975, MC Garbage lives and works in Brussels. He creates realistic paintings that actually criticize the latent problems with the way we live in the modern world.
His works, illustrating full garbage cans, waste and symbols of pop culture, are a critique of the excesses and contradictions that run rampant throughout our society.
Largely inspired by popular imagery, some of the artist's works, notably the ones that depict cartoon characters, remind us of the works of pop artist icon, Roy Lichtenstein.
A realism painter who questions the very essence of art itself
MC Garbage wishes to show us things that we no longer see or notice; maybe because we don’t want to or just purely by habit. The waste that builds up in cities allows him to treat all sorts of forms, materials and subjects: shiny and colored plastics, transparent objects, shiny aluminum, magazine covers dealing with current events, boxes and package wrappers...
The artist offers a similar approach than that of hyperrealist painters, except the fact that his version - through his modes of representation - differs in its meaning and purpose. His work questions both the world of art and human society as a whole. It begs the question: what should we really be painting about today?
What the artist has to say
"My paintings of garbage reflect the insatiable nature of our consumer society, today. I like to think that they are there to remind us of the famous Latin phrase "memento mori", "remember that you will die".
However, beyond this beautiful artistic depiction of our gross vices, lies a cautionary tale - we too will all end up like soda cans, in the trash! I want the viewer to be able to find art at every street corner and think of my work as a way of reminding them of the brevity of life all the while pondering on the meaning of their own existence... "
- MC Garbage
