Guerra de la Paz (b. 1968 & b. 1955)

Since 1996, Cuban-born American artists Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz have been are the collaborative duo Guerra de la Paz. Originally sourcing their materials from the waste bins of second-hand goods shipping companies in Miami's Little Haiti, Guerra De La Paz make their sculptures from the discarded items of daily life. Viewing their practice as a kind of 'archaeology', their work engages with the history inherent in common debris and its possibility for recycled usage. In Nine, a monumental installation created in 2007, a giant mound of clothing heaps with strata of prom dresses, Christmas jumpers, and embarrassing yesteryear fads, bearing down with the weight of a civilisation and its disowned memories. Beneath the fringes of the hulking mass can be seen the feet of nine people supporting the load, a testimony to the strength and value of community. Exhibited in Abstract America: New Painting and Sculptures at the Saatchi Gallery, Nine is inspired by the ready-made and the archeological qualities of found objects - moreover, it is a work that addresses the meaning and significance of mass-produced refuse of contemporary culture.