GABRIELA GARCíA D’ALTA
Leftovers, 2023
Located at 23rd Street and Collins Avenue in the Walgreens storefront.
Leftovers is a site-specific installation by architect and multi-disciplinary artist Gabriela García D’Alta. This work builds upon her long-standing visual and aesthetic exploration of everyday objects, prompting viewers to reconsider their function and value. The display features a collection of found objects made from polystyrene or plastic #6—commonly referred to by the brand name Styrofoam—that García D’Alta has sourced from friends and family, trash bins and street corners. The installation is a testament to a moment of increasingly unbridled consumption, placing a spotlight not only on what is consumed, but also on what remains.
In Leftovers, García D’Alta presents ready-made, free-standing polystyrene sculptures in various configurations on shelves, stacked like colorful building blocks, and overflowing from commercial one ton bulk bags traditionally used in construction. She also juxtaposes a formal photograph of a polystyrene object with another, taken more casually using an iPhone, of the same object overflowing from a waste container. In doing so, García D’Alta accentuates how a piece of Styrofoam can go from a discarded item to an elevated art object, leading not only to a reassignation of value, but also to a personal and collective reassessment of how one generates less waste.
In the artist’s words:
“The window display as a form allows me to question and challenge the notions of value and materiality that inspire much of my work. It gives me insight into the things that I collect, while allowing me to remain open to unexpected exchanges and surprising outcomes. For me, it’s not only about how we relate to objects after they are discarded or forgotten, but also how we can reimagine their hidden potential. This ignites new questions and conversations that allow me to explore how we might consume more responsibly and reduce our carbon footprint.”
For García D’Alta, the window display functions as a form to challenge preconceived notions of disposability, inviting the passerby to pause and reflect on their relationship with the material, a tangible reminder of how readily consumers discard things. When an object ceases to serve its intended purpose – in the case of Styrofoam, as a material used to encase or protect – it no longer has any value. When seen within our urban and suburban landscape, Styrofoam, like other single-use plastics that do not disintegrate or cannot be easily recycled, is an undesirable byproduct. Nevertheless, when showcased in a vitrine, a display case, it is recontextualized as an artifact, a human-made object that in the not too distant future, García D’Alta hopes will serve as another kind of reminder – a relic of our time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gabriela García D’Alta (b. 1982, Boston, MA) is an artist and architect currently based in Miami, Florida. Raised in Caracas, Venezuela, her practice is driven by the continuous exploration of objects, forms, and materials and their relationship to memory and the transient nature of our existence. Her work spans across various mediums, including photography, archive, printmaking, and sculpture. Recently, she participated in the group exhibition Song of Simple Things presented by Mahara+Co and Art Space 305 and she had her first solo exhibition in the US, Disposability Disrupted, at Bakehouse Art Complex.
García D’Alta has exhibited at galleries and art fairs across Miami, including Swampspace, Pinta Miami, and RAW, among others. She has exhibited internationally at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Maracay Mario Abreu, Maracay; ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin; Tête Project Space, Berlin; Galeria 3ytres, Caracas; and Hacienda La Trinidad, Caracas. She has been a resident artist at Bakehouse Art Complex since 2018.
Learn more about the artist at gabrielagarciadalta.com and follow her on Instagram @gabrielagarciadalta.
ABOUT THE BASS X BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX WINDOWS PROJECT
The Walgreens Windows Project is a collaboration between The Bass and Bakehouse. Featuring site-specific projects by emerging and local artists on a rotating basis, the projects represent the shared missions of the Miami-based arts organizations to support art that engages, challenges, and educates. The project is supported by Walgreens.
ABOUT THE BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX
Located in Wynwood Norte (a 20-minute drive from these windows), Bakehouse Art Complex is the working home to approximately 100 Miami-based artists who make art, discover, learn, and share work with each other and the community. Its artist community derives from a rich diversity of backgrounds and represents a broad range of media and practices, from painting to performance, from traditional to experimental. The organization provides affordable studios to artists offering access to on-site infrastructure, creative and professional development opportunities, among a community of peers. Visit bacfl.org to learn more.
