Mercado Negro – Spanish word for Black Market
I came across an artist today who had seemingly just created an ingenious piece of furniture out of a shopping cart. I thought, damn I want a few of those loung-ers for the backyard this spring! Clever dude. But really he did so much more than that. Ramon Coronado’s project deals with “reclaiming an ordinary, everyday object and transforming it into something with a completely different purpose.”
Everyday we walk by discarded shopping carts and really random other items of discarded trash in Philly and don’t think very much of it. Ramon moved to LA right across from MacArthur Park, a “dangerous” lower income area, overpopulated with homeless, and lots of trash. He saw shopping carts as a part of LA’s landscape and realized in this area the children wouldn’t go to the park and have a safe place to play. So he took the iconic drifter shopping cart and created functional art / furniture for the kids to enjoy.
It’s a creative & strong criticism on the lack of clean + safe recreational areas in populated cities such as LA or Philadelphia. Our city, for one, could really benefit from cleaning up these unused, rundown and trash ridden lots, and start putting gardens, playgrounds and obviously, skateparks!
