Installation > et in Arcadia ego

et in Arcadia ego
Graphite and Found Materials
Dimensions Variable
2013
et in Arcadia ego (overview)
Graphite and Found Materials
Dimensions Variable
2013
et in Arcadia ego (detail)
Graphite and Found Materials
Dimensions Variable
2013
et in Arcadia ego (gallery view)
Graphite and Found Materials
Dimensions Variable
2013

The omnipresence of our garbage in the environment is my subject in et in Arcadia ego ("even in Arcadia am I"), an installation I first produced at Allegheny College using wall drawing and found materials. I surround the drawn components of this installation, a floating plastic bag and the text ET IN ARCADIA EGO, with a landscape constructed of found branches and greenery, interspersed with refuse. The presence of death even in an idyllic land was a well-known subject in neoclassical painting, most famously Poussin’s two allegories titled et in Arcadia ego; here the phrase refers to the trash we carelessly leave behind.