23. Christy Rupp — From Rubble Rats to Plastic Pangolins
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Waste is often invisible—or at least many people work hard to make it disappear. Through landfills, incineration, and cargo ships traveling across oceans, we have become adept at pretending that waste is not a problem and that it can disappear.
Who is Christy Rupp?
Christy Rupp is a New York City-based artist who has spent her career bringing waste to light, making the invisible visible and the unnoticed noticed. She grew up here in Buffalo, but she started her career in the art world in the 1970s in New York City. Some of her early work brought attention to the rats on the streets as they experienced a population explosion due to the 1979 garbage strike, which itself made the garbage and the rats more visible.
Her work exposes ecological threats often hidden from sight—from acid rain, to fast food, to microplastics; and often waste materials are her medium—from cardboard, to chicken bones, to credit cards—drawing attention to the presence of that waste and its ecological impacts.
From the fall of 2024 through the winter of 2025, the Anderson Gallery at the University at Buffalo hosted an exhibition featuring more than forty years of Christy’s work, curated by Anna Wager. On November 15, 2024, I recorded an interview with Christy as we walked through the gallery and discussed much of the work on display.
I’m John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis. You can subscribe at johnfiege.earth, where you will also find show notes and all episodes of the podcast, plus my writing, photographs, and films. On the page for this episode, you will find both the audio as a podcast and the full video of our gallery walk and interview, including close-ups of many of Christy’s art works.
Here is Christy Rupp.
Notes and Media Recommendations
- Christy Rupp's Website:
- https://christyrupp.com/
- Christy Rupp's Wikipedia Page
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christy_Rupp
- Noisy Autumn Sculpture and Works on Paper By Christy Rupp
- https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Noisy-Autumn/Christy-Rupp/9781647224844
- "Manifesto for Maintenance Art—Proposal for an Exhibition" By Mierle Laderman Ukeles
- https://queensmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ukeles-Manifesto-for-Maintenance-Art-1969.pdf
Credits
This episode was edited by Jamie Hager, with color grading and additional editing by Isabella Fleming. Music is by Daniel Rodríguez Vivas. Mixing is by Morgan Honaker. Camera and production sound are by Jamie Hager and Marc Baan.
Special thanks to Anna Wager, who curated Christy Rupp’s show and arranged the podcast recording at the Anderson Gallery at the University at Buffalo.
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