This monstrosity of Hummer and Styrofoam combined is entitled American Detritus. It was constructed during a 3 month residency program at the San Francisco dump’s Artist in Residence program. This program provides tools, a small stipend, space and access to the dump’s never ending supply of materials for artists to create with. Andrew Junge is the artist who came up with this life sized styrofoam Hummer in 2005.
The base of the Hummer is plywood which was salvaged from the dump. This plywood frame was then covered in many styrofoam bricks that the artist cut down to size and glued together. The styrofoam that was used was also taken from the dump. There is a lot of glue, bolts, screws, etc. holding the sculpture together and it weighs an astonishing amount estimated to be between 400 and 700 pounds!
The title of the piece is revealing. Look up Detritus in Wikipedia and you’ll find the following definition: “In biology, detritus is non-living particulate organic material (as opposed to dissolved organic material). It typically includes the bodies or fragments of dead organisms as well as fecal material.” Logically then, styrofoam and hummers would be American (or North American) detritus … Unfortunately, both of these items are far too common here in Canada as well.
Hummers use huge amounts of gas for no real reason at all. It drives me crazy when I see people commuting back and forth to work in the city in these vehicles. Styrofoam is another one of my big pet peeves. While it is technically possible to recycle it, practically no one does because of the cost and toxic fumes involved in melting it down. There are so many better alternatives to this type of packaging. Please avoid companies that even use styrofoam products and tell them why. The only way that corporations change is when their bottom lines are affected.
This is genius work by Andrew Junge and I’ll definitely be looking into some of the other Artists in residency.
