CYNTHIA BROWN

 

 

 

 

 

Hard Beauty: Trash’s Dirty Secret is an exhibition of fine art paintings whose subject matter centers on the facilities, equipment and environs of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY).

 

Despite the fact the public has daily involvement with trash disposal, the operational procedures to gather trash from the curbs and “make it disappear” remain a mystery to most. Where exactly does the garbage end up? Unfortunately, waste collection and removal, as well as the sanitation workers who have chosen this endeavor, are largely invisible, lost in the urban landscape or avoided.

 

Hard Beauty offers a fresh new perspective on the subject. Garbage disposal as sole subject matter for a fine art exhibition will shake up preconceptions of the work and the people who do it. The public will also have a chance to reassess the part they play, or refuse to play, in the process of keeping the city clean, healthy and safe.

 

Ultimately, Hard Beauty will reveal trash’s dirty secret, namely that the DSNY has an extremely bold, brash, and brazen goal for the city. However, this extraordinary and visionary objective is not known. It’s a “secret” to the public. Hard Beauty’s mission, beyond exposing this audacious and overreaching DSNY secret, is to provide visual Inducement for the public to support it.   The secret is an extreme and hard challenge and should the public work in tandem with the DSNY to bring the dirty secret to fruition, the result would be a city with a beauty beyond our wildest dreams.

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Hard Beauty: Trash’s Dirty Secret is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

 

• ​Tax deductible donations can be made to Hard Beauty through the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA.org).  From their home page, click on donate to NYFA, then click on Fiscally Sponsored Projects and select Hard Beauty to ensure your donation is directed specifically to this project.

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Hard Beauty: Trash’s Dirty Secret is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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