One man’s trash is Khalil Chishtee‘s treasure. We previously featured the Pakistani artist’s ethereal garbage bag sculptures back in 2013, where he breathed new life into unwanted found-objects. Having just come off his debut solo exhibition, “Detritus from Exploded Stars” at Sanat Gallery, Chishtee has since expanded his concept to dig deeper. His latest works make the connection between art created from practically nothing to the creation of life from an empty universe. Chishtee believes that art should be a direct reflection of its creator’s own life and experience. He uses the fragile nature of plastic to make his point; as it rips and fades away, it implies that the figure is also faded and aging. Like ghosts, figures such as a father embracing his son and a bearded self-portrait of the artist hang suspended in mid air, feather light and falling apart. White trash bags are specifically used to represent each subject’s soul. There’s an incomplete-ness to every piece. Just as the universe continues to evolve, Chishtee allows his art to distort and change in its making.
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In recent work, 
Oakland based painter