“The sweet singing of garbage trucks constantly working every night, the intense squealing of rats enjoying a good
leftover meal, the colors of flying plastic bags in a super noisy New York City street, are just some of the
inspirations that I collect to create my paintings and pictures.”
- Luca Pizzaroni
Fred Torres Collaborations is pleased to announce the exhibition Luca Pizzaroni Bianco Trash on view
from June 21 through July 27, 2012. This is the artist’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, which will feature
8 photographs, over15 paintings, and an installation by the artist. A limited edition catalogue will be
published on occasion of the exhibition. Fred Torres Collaborations is located at 527 West 29th Street,
New York.
Bianco Trash investigates American consumption, international commerce, and environmentalism. This new
body of work continues Pizzaroni’s inquiry into the American culture of consumption, which began with
several series based on his experiences working in the fashion world. Originally from Italy, Pizzaroni has
been fascinated with American culture, particularly film, since he was a child watching American movies,
and then later working on the sets of CineCittá. Pizzaroni approaches his interest in American culture from
the viewpoint of an immigrant – ultimately trying to deconstruct the American Dream visually. Featured in
the exhibition are recent photographs the artist made of the landfills of New Jersey, just outside of New
York City. Wandering through the trash, Pizzaroni documented the result of American consumption,
bringing to the forefront the cycle wherein consumers buy cheap disposable goods, largely imported from
Asia, which end up as waste, only to purchase more that is thrown away. The photograph Thank You For
Shopping serves not only as a reminder of the waste as a result of shopping, and that trash does not simply
vanish, but goes somewhere.
In 2011 Pizzaroni began experimenting with white paint on black trash bags. As in past work, he is
interested in the role of chance, or serendipity in the way that the paint adheres to the plastic and the
marks formed. The Bianco Trash paintings nod to the white paintings of Ryman, and the gestural marks of
action painting and abstract expressionism. In this sense, the paintings belie the material, and challenge the
tradition of paint on canvas and “high art.”
Pizzaroni states, “Americans make more trash than anyone else on the planet, throwing away about 7
pounds per person per day, 365 days a year. Trash has become the most valuable goods to export, which
then is sold back to us as products waiting to be trashed again. We are each on track to generate around
100 tons of trash across our lifetime; our American Dream is definitely linked to this accumulation of trash.
My trips to the landfill in Middlesex County, New Jersey made me understand that when there is traffic of
garbage trucks going to the landfill it is a sign of people buying - trash is a way to understand our economy.”
Luca Pizzaroni was born in Rome, Italy. He lives and works in New York. He has exhibited both in New
York and abroad including shows at KunstWerke in Berlin, The Katonah Museum of Art and the Cartier
Foundation in Paris. He is the recipient of a residency at American Apparel and of a grant from the Italian
Institute of Culture of New York. His film and video career has included directorial work for both Elton
John and Bryan Adams. In collaboration with Florian Böhm and Wolfgang Scheppe, he produced
ENDCOMMERCIAL®, a definitive catalog of his visual, urban studies. The book was published in 2002 to
wide acclaim.
About Fred Torres Collaborations
Founded in 2008, Fred Torres Collaborations (FTC) works with artists, galleries, curators, and museums in
producing and promoting exhibitions in New York and around the world. In 2008, FTC opened an
exhibition space in Chelsea, which serves as an incubator for emerging artists, an experimental space for
established artists, and a venue to host other arts related programming. FTC complements its exhibition
program with guest-curated shows such as Assembly, organized by LACMA curator Edward Robinson. To
date, over 43 artists have been exhibited at the gallery space. Artists in the program have gone on to
exhibit at galleries and museums around the world, collected by important private and public institutions,
and featured in numerous national and international publications such as The New York Times, The New
Yorker, Time Out New York, Village Voice and W.
For more information, please contact Yana Balson by email at director@fredtorres.com or by phone at
212.244.5074.
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