Kelley Walker (b. 1969)

The recycling logo is an emblem within Walker's artistic practice, referencing his endless transformation and re-use of raw cultural material. Providing an informal manifestation of recycling as a philosophy and phenomenon, the appropriated logo physically reframes the world around it, its arrows continuously pointing to the recycling of time, space and material. More so, the recycling sign also points to the slippery networks of distribution and circulation to which Walker's work addresses, particularly the ubiquity of visual imagery within our own culture. A contemporary Pop Culture symbol, Walker sees the recycling sign as a symbol of indoctrination, stating 'I am thinking of printed matter as a raw material with traces of history. The logo has an aura of propaganda that interests me.'
(K. Walker, quoted in V. Pécoil, 'Printed Matter', in Flash Art, March-April 2006, reproduced at: https://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=33 &det=ok&title=KELLEY-WALKER).