By Todd Thyberg
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Angel Bomb, 2023. Second Edition of 12.
5.5” x 3.25” x 3.75”dumpster with letterpress printed items. Shredded paper completes the garbage in the container. French Speckletone Kraft colored stock paper for the garbage and folio.
The Dumpster: Hand sculpted and cast in resin. Painted extensively with acrylic and oil paints to give it a rusted, worn patina. Decals applied to look tagged by unruly kids. Lids are removable to gain access to the garbage inside.
The Garbage: Letterpress printed. Each item meticulously drawn by hand and contains information about each one printed on the reverse. Includes a small booklet.
This is the second edition of “2020: A Fiasco” which was originally editioned in 2021. Thyberg has changed the color of the dumpster to a rusting yellow and the garbage items are printed using colored Kraft paper. Giving a nod to recycling. The book consists of a lidded dumpster and garbage items.
Todd Thyberg: “This 2nd Edition uses a recycling colorway to connote the 2nd and final edition of this book. As a society, we haven't improved much, if at all, since 2020, so I felt it was worth having another look at garbage putting our society in danger.”
"This resin-cast and hand-painted dumpster holds things that went horribly wrong in America in 2020. If we can’t learn from our mistakes, we’re destined to repeat them. I hope that this book commemorates our failings and encourages us to be better.
"This book idea came to me as last year [2020] didn’t wind down so much as it came crashing to a finish. It was a major shitshow in which more people died from Covid-19 than nearly all the American combat troops in every war the U.S. has participated in since AND including World War I. By the time you read this in February of 2021, that number will have been exceeded. Let that sink in. The virus that the president suggested could be cured by a bright light, or by taking disinfectant internally, that would just disappear one day has taken more lives than WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Iraq War, and Afghanistan put together. All in the span of a year.
"Not only that, but the U.S. pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords, dropped funding for the World Health Organization, saw more Black Americans shot by police without reprisal, and saw the financial disparity between economic classes hit record highs. "If we don’t learn from our mistakes, if we don’t stop the fascism running rampant throughout society, this once great nation is doomed."
"I’ve used my modeling and scratch building skills to create this lush representation of the trash receptacle our country has become. Rusty, shitty, and needing a lot of TLC. Let’s get to work and make this place better together."
$300