WATERTOWN, Conn. — Dirt-covered items found in a Watertown, Connecticut, dumpster were actually works of art and the mechanic who found them is working to bring attention to the artist’s work.
Jared Whipple, a car mechanic, found the pieces of art in a dumpster outside of an abandoned barn in September 2017, The Associated Press reported. Whipple later learned that the items he found were actually pieces of art made by Francis Hines, an abstract expressionist who had stored his art in the barn.
Francis Hines is best known for his “wrapping” art, where he would wrap fabric around objects, The Associated Press reported. The buildings Hines wrapped in New York include John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Washington Square Arch and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Whipple has collaborated with Hollis Taggart, which has art galleries in New York and Connecticut, to bring more attention to Hines. That includes an exhibition of the artist’s work that will be followed by a sale of 35 to 40 pieces of the found art, CT Insider reported.
Peter Hastings Falk, an art curator and historian, told CT Insider that he estimates each of Hines’ paintings can be sold for around $22,000 and his drawings for $4,500. That would make Whipple’s collection worth millions, if sold in its entirety, the outlet reported.
“I pulled it out of this dumpster and I fell in love with it. I made a connection with it,” Whipple told CT Insider. “My purpose is to get Hines into the history books.”