Beer can art mistaken for trash
A recent case of art mistaken for trash. Details from Artnet news:
The LAM museum in Lisse, the Netherlands,... recently found one of its artworks in the trash, accidentally thrown out by an elevator technician who mistook it for garbage.
At first glance, Alexandre Lavet’s All the good times we spent together by (2016) appear to be a pair of empty beer cans, drunk and discarded, one slightly crushed. But closer inspection reveals that these weren’t regular beer cans—and Lavet is no readymade artist.
Instead, he meticulously hand painted the cans, creating two perfect replicas of cans of Jupiler beer. Lavet intended the piece as a tribute to memories of good times spent with friends.
The worker responsible for throwing out the art was filling in for the museum’s regular technician. That meant he wasn’t familiar with the works in the museum’s collection, which it advertises as the world’s largest museum collection of food art.
He also probably didn’t realize that the LAM museum takes delight in stashing artworks in unexpected, unconventional places. All the good times was behind glass, but not in a traditional vitrine. Instead, it could be seen inside the elevator shaft, as if it had been left behind by construction workers’ knocking off after their shifts.
At first glance, Alexandre Lavet’s All the good times we spent together by (2016) appear to be a pair of empty beer cans, drunk and discarded, one slightly crushed. But closer inspection reveals that these weren’t regular beer cans—and Lavet is no readymade artist.
Instead, he meticulously hand painted the cans, creating two perfect replicas of cans of Jupiler beer. Lavet intended the piece as a tribute to memories of good times spent with friends.
The worker responsible for throwing out the art was filling in for the museum’s regular technician. That meant he wasn’t familiar with the works in the museum’s collection, which it advertises as the world’s largest museum collection of food art.
He also probably didn’t realize that the LAM museum takes delight in stashing artworks in unexpected, unconventional places. All the good times was behind glass, but not in a traditional vitrine. Instead, it could be seen inside the elevator shaft, as if it had been left behind by construction workers’ knocking off after their shifts.
Comments
Alex, I just searched all I could but cannot find a story online about it, but back in the 1990s (if I recall) a similar thing happened here in Atlanta. There was an art installation at either the capitol building or the airport that was simply canvas with paint thrown on it.
Janitor tossed it in the trash thinking it was a drop cloth. A $200,000 drop cloth!
Janitor tossed it in the trash thinking it was a drop cloth. A $200,000 drop cloth!
Posted by John S on 10/09/24 at 07:10 AM
John, that sounds like the case of the "painting mistaken for dropcloth" that we posted about a few months ago:
https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/painting_mistaken_for_dropcloth
https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/painting_mistaken_for_dropcloth
Posted by Alex on 10/09/24 at 07:20 AM
Serves him right for choosing Jupiler. If you want to make art, at least do it with beer rather than with pigswill.
Posted by Richard Bos on 10/19/24 at 06:57 PM
Category: Art