Steve Geer: Discarded

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1, 5-7 p.m.
Conversation with the Artists: Thursday, June 20, 7 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public.

Behind shops and restaurants in Chicago, there are service alleys. These narrow passages are lined with trash dumpsters which are filled each day and emptied each night. Sometimes, discarded things spill out of the dumpsters and onto the pavement. Most of these items are the things that are used just once and then summarily disposed of.

In 2017, Steve Geer began to photograph this spillage, placing the discarded items in reflecting puddles to provide an informative backdrop. And, sometimes, inspired by their usage, he would arrange these one-and-done items into still-life groupings. The fact is that many of the discarded things will still be around in landfills or elsewhere; long after we're gone and, perhaps, long after the city has gone.

In describing, Discarded, Steve Geer explains his series by stating, "I live in the city. I buy things in its shops and eat in its restaurants. I see my own day-to-day activities in many of these still-life vignettes. Essentially, they are self-portraits in which I am absent. "

Image: Steven Geer, Untitled