People don’t often associate historical oil paintings and trash. If anything, they see them as polar opposites in value. Yet Kim Alsbrooks combines them in her series ‘My White Trash Family’ in a way that makes for a fun and meaningful project. On her website she explains the unusual combination of materials saying, “The White Trash Series was developed while living in the South out of frustration with some of the prevailing ideologies, in particular, class distinction. This ideology seems to be based on a combination of myth, biased history and a bizarre sentimentality about old wars and social structures. With the juxtaposition of the portraits from museums, once painted on ivory, now on flattened trash like beer cans and fast food containers, the artist sets out to even the playing field, challenging the perception of the social elite in today’s society.”

More information about the series can be found at Kim Alsbrooks’s website and blog, including a profile of each of the figures painted and how the works can be purchased.