Phil Padwe

I enjoy the marriage of apparent opposites and find the challenge of reconciling mutually exclusive modalities alluring. My most recent work exemplifies this: NYC garbage cans faithfully rendered in silverpoint and gold. I like the idea of art as alchemy and using an Old Master technique to turn garbage into gold. There's also an environmental crisis unfolding which, bearing witness to as an artist, means recording or acknowledging in some way. A focus on literal garbage makes sense in this context but also serves as a snapshot of where we are politically, and culturally, in the contemporary US. These drawings share roots with 20th century found poetry, and trash aesthetes like Rauschenberg and Picasso. Finally, silverpoint garbage cans speak to my own adoption and the transformative power of focus. How one person's trash can be another's treasure. And serious art can be found wherever serious artists search.