- Blog #13
Your Trash is my Picasso
Not so very long ago, when the New York area was under threat of quarantine, many people began to shelter in place with giant quantities of toilet paper, or simply move out. Due to the shifts in lifestyle the landscape outside on the sidewalks became an elevated terrain of a different sort. Huge piles, and massive mounds of garbage grew on curbs spilling onto the sidewalks. The avalanche of garbage created an urban terrain of its own. Co-mingled with actual refuse was just about anything that would fit in an apartment. Everything no longer wanted ended up as trash. Outside on the streets the curbs, were obscured by massive piles of refuse. To best describe the situation the below quotes, have been added.
“The sharpest rise has been in the amount of glass , which hit a record high in May", according to data from Sims Municipal Recycling, a local recycling company.
“Wine, vodka, whiskey,” said Claudio Garcia, a building superintendent, who said he carried out at least triple the number of bottles as he did before the lockdown.
Along with all the bottles, it was not surprising that plenty of other stuff found its way onto the giant piles swallowing the sidewalks. Try as most did, to sidestep the tumbling mounds, it was completely unavoidable not to notice some of the stuff near your feet. Most people tiptoed, rushed or jumped passed as quickly as possible. While many others chose instead to become instant collectors. Stray thoughts heard muttered aloud, “OMG, look at THAT!” or “Why would someone throw THAT out! “That,” of course instantly became claimed as found treasure. Once it was removed from the trash, brushed off, it was proudly taken away. “Meeting the criteria, that anything left on the street“ is FREE!”
There is no law that prohibits one from picking up the stuff others place on the sidewalk. In fact, people have created an entire industry of trolling the streets to collect stuff others dumped on the sidewalk. Not all neighborhoods allow this new type of scavenger hunting to be done. Does your neighborhood allow throw-a-ways to be placed out on the sidewalk and if so, what have you found?
This week, Edith Parker, a Shreveport, La., resident learned that she might have had an original Picasso painting in her possession, potentially worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars but sold it at a garage sale for $2.00. She stated that she was floored. She had no idea in her wildest dreams that she could possibly have had millions in her driveway and sold it for $2. who lives in a trailer park? If it is real, it could fetch upwards of $2 million. But it wouldn't be the first time a masterpiece has been salvaged from the trash heap. It wouldn't even be the first Picasso.
An early work of the iconic Spanish artist was found tucked away in an attic in the United Kingdom last year. It scored $200,000 at auction. Teri Horton, a long-haul truck driver bought a painting at a thrift store for $5. She later realized that her purchase may have been a Jackson Pollack, valued at $50 million. In 2007, a man bought what turned out to be an original version of the Declaration of Independence from a Tennessee thrift store for $2.48.
Yours truly - Alan Roditi - has found some great things on the sidewalks of New York. One day in Flushing some years ago I saw on the street leaning against a city garbage can a Juan Miro lithograph. I still have it on the wall in my living room.
Many people donate the things they don’t want anymore and there are plenty of places around to donate. The most amazing thing about donation centers is that they actually turn your old junk into thriving and popular businesses, and they get all their stock for free!
Many people can’t be bothered to recycle. They just place their used stuff on the sidewalk in front of their building instead of dumping it in the trash. According to the Department of Sanitation, diverting unwanted items from the city’s waste streams reduces greenhouse gas emissions: Just in 2019, through the donate NYC program, the city reduced the equivalent to the annual emissions of 42,500 cars.
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Quote of the Week:
“Just because people throw it out and don't have any use for it, doesn't mean it's garbage.”― Andy Warhol
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