Garbage Can (Poubelle)

Arman, 1964 · Gallery 408 · Floor 4

Alright, it’s a box of trash. Let’s just get that out of the way. Find the yellow folder in the middle, with the handwriting on it. Dresdner Bank. The handwritten number’s still there. Now look at the newsprint on the right. A piece about three London exhibitions. Bottom left, a slip from an art publisher in Paris. And there’s a sheet dated 1962 from a gallery called Der Spiegel. So you’re looking at an art gallery’s trash. That gallery’s in Cologne. In 1964, Arman takes paper from its wastebasket and puts it into a plexiglass box. Pretty much lets it land where it lands. He calls it Poubelle. French for trash can. Okay, so. He’s putting trash into containers. And then he tries it on a slightly bigger scale. His friend Yves Klein has a show at a small gallery in Paris. He paints the room white and leaves it empty. Calls it The Void. People line up to see an empty room. Two and a half years later, Arman uses the same gallery. Fills it with garbage. You have to stand out on the street and look through the window. Pretty much what you’re doing right now. He calls it Full Up. Even the invitations come in sardine cans. Two days after the opening, he and Klein and a few others get together and sign a declaration. They are the New Realists. The idea is to bring things from everyday life straight into the work. You don’t have to paint the soup can. You can just use the can. Or, in Arman’s case, whatever’s in the trash can. This is one of a hundred boxes made in 1964, each filled with its own jumble of trash. And look at the paper. It’s still getting older in there. So go back to the yellow folder. Somebody decided they were done with it. Threw it out. And here we are, leaning in, trying to read it.

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