Exhibition of Sam Keller's sculptures made from consumer detritus, including crushed cans and fast food, satirising a consumerist age.
Sam Keller is showing Aftertaste at Martha's from July 18 through August 29, a run that takes the detritus of consumer culture and turns it into polished art objects. The work is built from the things we buy and the byproducts we leave behind — trash, snacks, vapes, crushed cans, and fast food like Cheetos, Doritos, and McDonald's french fries. Keller covers them in crystals or transforms them into finished pieces, giving value to things we usually throw away.
He first started making the can pieces in 2017, following some gold-plated cans he did in 2011 that he was never quite happy with. A Brooklyn native, he grew up collecting subway ads, street signs, and even the head of a parking meter. He studied painting before turning to object-based work, and his first piece was a pizza crust he reassembled into a ring.
Among the sculptures on display are Ancient Grease, a White House diorama made of McDonald's fries, and Sad slice, a bronze cast of a pizza slice. Both act as satirical totems of a consumerist age, taking the disposable and making it permanent. The show is dedicated to the memory of Alex Dijulio.
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You can find the exhibition at Martha's, 4115 Guadalupe in Austin Midtown, running through August 29.
