Greg Carideo starts by carefully collecting and cataloging discarded materials, transforming them into a living archive that traces the passage of time. Sourced from diverse locations—from Sicilian beaches to New Mexico deserts to Brooklyn wastelands—items such as t-shirts, fabrics, and repurposed sheet metal carry traces of age, discoloration, fraying, and wear. These materials, accumulated over time, become a study in endurance and memory, reflecting both their origins and the environments that shaped them. Carideo attends to their temporal qualities with meticulous care, allowing each piece to retain the history embedded in its surface while forming the foundation for future constructions. These found objects are incorporated into hand-crafted steel structures, manually cut, bent, welded, and brazed, where layers of patina, chipped paint, and rust articulate the passage of time. Referencing architectural forms such as archways, doorways, and thresholds, his constructions echo spatial motifs that recur across cities and contexts. Fabric collages are threaded through seams or draped across surfaces, emphasizing the relationship between material and structure, while playful interventions—like a tattered t-shirt or a repurposed “no parking” sign—create intimate, almost carnivalesque environments. Through these works, Carideo investigates the interplay between human presence and built space, portraying portals of shelter, intimacy, and reflection while subtly engaging with political and social concerns, from the memory of domestic life to broader environmental and humanitarian anxieties. ...
