Visual Rhetoric

“Trash Men” by Mark Jenkins is a construction for street art. This is a illicit sculpture placed on the streets in London. It consists of four bags that are filled with some sort of material to make them seem like full trash bags. Then at the bottom of each bag are two openings where attached are realistic-looking but false legs that posed to look as if someone just through the bags down.

Street art isn't always just trapped on a vertical surface. Sometimes the art placed on the street comes in other forms, such as this installed sculpture. This particular artist specializes in this unconventional medium by placing installations and sculptures on the streets of some of the busiest cities in the world, letting the pieces seek people's notification.

“Trash Men” pulls at the pathos strings through shock and humor. Seeing this in a photograph or in person is quite shocking because at first you don't expect it to be what it really is, legs that are hanging out of the full trash bags. Although, it takes a little contemplation to come to the conclusion that the legs are just life size sculpted pieces with real clothes fitted on top that are arranged so that they are coming out of the bottom of the filled trash bags in a realistic pose.

At second viewing when more of your attention comes into play, you notice the legs and they seem very real, so an eerie feeling comes over you until you come to the realization that they are, in fact, fake. Then once the shock and spook factor wear off, the image becomes funny and ironic. The fact that someone would think of this scenario, of people actually being thrown out with and like the trash, in the first place and actually pull it off is humorously clever.

The image appeals to the logos (logic and information) part of you because it isn't logical at all. Being the opposite, it makes the logic program run to try and depict the message behind why people are in the trash. It is also logically shocking because these are normal everyday things (the trash bags, the pants, shoes and socks, and even the legs) that are usually close to one another in the same environment; however when you combine them it becomes very surreal and out of the ordinary; definitely something that you would never expect. The only way this image appeals to the ethos sense (integrity, trust) is the fact it makes you distrust the environment around you a little more and become more aware as well as suspicious. The connection of this construction to mythos (community) : this sculpture passes a message to the whole community, the message being to wake up and be more aware of your surroundings and also we need to work to prevent us all from becoming consumed by our trash; and anyone can interact with it for it is a tangible object that has no barriers around it.

Jenkins, M. (2010). Trash Men. Retrieved on May 2, 2011 from the World Wide Web at :http://sickoftheradio.com/2010/11/28/art-mark-jenkins-sculptures-speak/.