A unique collection ... One of the redecorated refuse trucks, displaying Couple Blue by local artist Gabriela Szulman. It can be seen in and around Dulwich
Don't tell the Daily Mail, but modern art is rubbish. Officially.
At least according to Southwark Council in London, who have recently begun decorating their fleet of dustcarts with images by local artists as part of an initiative to encourage more people to go and see the borough's art collections, writes Mark Drinkwater.
I like the fact that these garbage collectors introduce an element of chance to seeing art, but I can't say I'm a fan of all the designs. But that doesn't matter. The point of Art on the Cart, as it's called, is to bring art to an audience that wouldn't normally see it. Southwark have chosen to showcase diverse works including linocuts, wallpaper prints, and even 18th-century Tapa cloth brought back from the South Pacific. And if you don't like the art - well, you don't have to look at it for long.
Some of the images don't exactly lend themselves to being showcased on trucks. Walter Crane's"Orange Tree" wallpaper design looks a little too much like camouflage to me and Gabriela Szulman's "Couple Blue" doesn't quite work on such a large scale. Obviously these trucks are hulking great industrial vehicles, so the most impressive designs are the bolder, simpler works such as Woodrow's "Periodic Table" and Peter Schmidt's serigraph "Cycloid 1".
Art and rubbish may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but the idea came about because of the way Southwark structures its services - the head of waste management, it turns out, is also in the person in charge of culture. Draw your own conclusions.
