Is it a Da Binci? Pensioner's dustbin artwork set to feature in Victoria-based gallery

Published: 08 October 2010
by MELISSA WRIGHT

RUBBISH, bad smells and general unpleasantness. That is what most people associate with bins – but for one woman, they have provided a canvas for original artwork.

When Marylebone resident Cesarea Santana, 70, decorated her plastic household bin with a detailed floral design, it didn’t take long for it to catch her neighbours’ attention. Now it is being featured in an exhibition at the SW1 Gallery in Victoria, and Ms Santana says she would like to see Westminster City Council follow her lead by making all of its bins more aesthetically pleasing.

Ms Santana, who was born in Gran Canaria, Spain, said: “What’s the good of art if people cannot see it? London has a lot of art, but everything is hidden away in galleries, in rich people’s houses. If art is where the world can see it, on the streets, people will be more cheerful”.

The artist, who lives in Gloucester Place Mews, says her ambition is to design bins for the London Olympics.

“I want to give inspiration to people,” she said. “If we didn’t have art, the world would be so dull.” 

Ms Santana traces her creativity to her childhood.

She said: “I would get lost in the lights and colours of Madrid. Anything that came my way, I would paint it.”

Despite never having had formal training, she began designing clothes from an early age and says she painted pretty designs on anything she found ugly.

Mark Banks, Westminster City Council’s waste manager, said: “We are pleased people feel passionate about our rubbish bins. In Westminster we have involved local people in a number of schemes which are intended to enliven the important waste service we deliver to our residents and this has included a competition to encourage young people to use their creativity to design a logo for one of our recycling trucks. 

“If anyone would like to see the design of our rubbish bins altered they would need to make a planning application to the council and a decision would be made in due course.”

• The Westminster Arts Open Exhibition is at 2 Cardinal Garden, Victoria, SW1 until October 22. 0207 963 4024