One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and Greg Colson happily accepts, transforms, and incorporates these treasures into his artworks. With his contemporary spin on 'arte povera', Colson manages to portray some of the most immense achievements of human categorization. His bricolage approach and reliance on rundown materials contribute to the stratification of his pieces. The lived-in materials of his creations always seem to resemble tattered 'You Are Here' signs pointing back to the real world.
In ‘Solar System Model (Pinnacle Mars)’, Greg Colson shows his most playful side, displaying the solar system using balls and buttons. The sun is represented by a soccer ball, while other planets are portrayed as a baseball, a tennis ball, or a golf ball. By using these objects, characterized by their tendency to fly or at least move through space, Colson reimagines the solar system as a mundane phenomenon—fit for a grade school lesson on the subject. With any aspirations toward accuracy tossed to the 'solar wind,' the artist’s childlike longing to understand the universe's systems becomes almost poignant.
Colson’s ‘Solar System Model (Pinnacle Mars)’ stands as a monument to the spheres, created by a guy in overalls with grand poetic ambitions. His workshop, filled with what others might see as junk, proves to be the perfect hiding spot for treasures—treasures that Greg Colson then turns to miraculous use.