Gretchen Altabef Photography

Art From Recycled Materials

2010-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." - Thomas A. Edison
I am increasingly drawn to the fun and freedom of creating art out of recycled trash.

Recycle Bin Art

School Daze

Dumpster Divers At The Globe Window

Madison Avenue Manikin

Hello?

A collaboration with Rev. Gary Culp
Spiral Created on Recycled Window
from glass found at the 2009 Burning Man Festival

I am a photographer and documentary filmmaker, graphic designer, writer, gallery director and found object artist; for advertising, journalism, PR, theater and television. Most recent exhibit, the 2011 Dysfunctional Furniture Show at City Hall Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa. A member of the Dumpster Divers of Philadelphia, www.dumpsterdivers.org

Readymades

2010-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

"When art is properly understood we wil be able to paint pictures to cure toothache." - Picasso

Many of the "readymade" photographs and collage shown here follow the Dadaist gestalt of found art.

Asbury Park Graffiti

Pink Ice

Motorcycle Mirror

Ottsville Barn

Philly Collage

Philadelphia Museum of Art Dali Exhibit

Beach Stone

Waves

Sand

Frost

Portraits

2010-11-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

"It's you I like, the way you are right now, the way down deep inside you, not the things that hide you, it's you I like." - Fred Rodgers

David Gerbstadt @ Pebble Hill

Rally for Sanity

Landscapes

2010-11-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

"Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow." --Wassily Kandinsky

Dysfunctional Furniture

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Advertising Photography

2010-11-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx

As a professional photographer my focus has been to produce smart, clean, clear images that present an idea simply and elegantly on demand for my advertising clients.

September 11 Peace

2010-11-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

"It is my conviction that nothing enduring can be built on violence." - Mahatma Gandhi

"We lose our freedoms at the altar of fear." - Kahlil Gibran

During the horror that was September 11, 2001, the city cordoned off Lower Manhattan at 14^th Street. Union Square Park, the closest anyone could get to the World Trade Center site, drew millions to mourn, nourish & heal together; spontaneously the People’s 9/11 Memorial was created. Art, music, ritual, sacred space, prayers were created and shared, filling the whole 3 block square park. George Washington’s statue standing in the center, held an earth flag, an “I love NY” flag and a Peace flag, it’s pedestal covered with chalk written prayers. For the 2 months the NYC Parks Department allowed it, whenever anyone needed a place to pray for their lost friends and family, the entire 14^th Street Park was a 24/7 Peace Site and a surrogate mourning site. Prayers like, “Love thy poor, immigrant, Jewish, addicted, gay, Muslim, old, atheist neighbor,” and “Islam is not the enemy” and “No war in My Name,” filled the park.
Every year the need to share these messages increases.

14th St. Subway Station

NY Peace Rally Spring 2002

Union Square a year later

St. Paul's Chapel at The Site

Stenciled on street corners

Neshamany Dell Farm Memorial, Chalfont, Pa