The Recyclers
/Gabriela Gonzalez Dellosso
2009
Oil on linen
Gift of a private collection, made possible by Harmon-Meek Gallery
Florida Southern College Permanent Collection FP.2017.7
Recalling Italian Baroque master Caravaggio in its manner, The Recyclers depicts four modern figures in the midst of an argument. Given the painting’s title, we have to imagine that Dellosso is poking fun, creating a humorously melodramatic scene around a very mundane, everyday subject matter, now elevated to the scale of an Old Master work.
So what are these four figures arguing about? What are they saying to each other? And who is being accused of what? Note the varying recyclable and compostable goods they carry. These household items are also the painting’s cleverly modernized “traditional” still-life objects. Will they help us tell the backstory and determine who is in the wrong here? This enigmatic tale is yours to decode. Dellosso has put you in charge, leaving the narrative wonderfully open to interpretation.