Is the Rise of Trash Assemblage Art a Recession Indicator?

Really interesting idea! And some very cool art. I can see how it could be a potential indicator. I wonder how much the indicator could be considered lagging considering how long it takes to get into a gallery or museum show.

By contrast, these gather artists have issues related to our globalized economy and climate change on their mind, though these ideas are woven into their art obliquely rather than addressed outright.

Notably, the prevalence of gather art has sped up in the past five years in New York, a period of Covid-induced slowdown and economic downturn. Does that make gather art a recession indicator? It definitely feels that way, especially because so much of this work is quite dour. Plus, there’s the fact that it costs less to appropriate preexisting material than it does to buy new art supplies. When the going gets rough, artists reduce, reuse, and recycle.

But the curious thing about gather art is that it isn’t always bleak: some artists seem optimistic about what will arise from the ruins of our bottomed-out society. Below, a look at three New York shows of gather art.