New York artist Justin Gignac has sold out a limited edition of small acrylic cubes filled with street debris collected directly outside Madison Square Garden on the day of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, turning everyday urban waste into portable collectibles that reached buyers across more than thirty countries within twenty four hours.
Justin Gignac, born in nineteen eighty one, works as a freelance artist, entrepreneur, speaker, and investor based in New York. He launched his New York City Garbage project in two thousand one by hand selecting authentic city trash and sealing it inside signed, numbered, and dated acrylic cubes. More than one thousand three hundred of these sculptures have sold to collectors in over thirty countries, with regular versions typically priced at fifty dollars and limited event editions at one hundred dollars. Gignac also co created the viral ElfYourself website that has generated more than one and a half billion customized elves since two thousand six.
The wedding edition collection began on July third, two thousand twenty six, the same evening as the ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Gignac dressed in the same tuxedo he wore at his own wedding, added gloves and a trash picker tool, and gathered debris from the sidewalks and streets surrounding the venue. He focused on items left behind after the high profile event, which included a mix of cigarette butts, water bottle caps, straws, utensils, pieces of caution tape, fragments of a rainbow fan, a discarded left AirPod, a Ring Pop candy, and an ovulation test kit. Many of the objects were knotted together to reflect the wedding theme before placement inside the cubes.
Each finished piece measures one inch by one inch by three quarters of an inch and forms part of the debut Pocket Garbage line under the name Not Invited Edition. Gignac arranged the contents inside clear acrylic containers, sealed them airtight to prevent leakage or odor, and signed the base of every cube. Buyers received a randomly selected piece rather than choosing specific contents, which added an element of chance to the limited run of fifty small cubes. Larger versions of similar garbage sculptures carried a one hundred dollar price point while the compact wedding themed cubes launched at twenty five dollars each.
Gignac created the collection as a natural extension of his long running project that transforms discarded materials into numbered art objects tied to significant public moments. He noted in descriptions shared with the release that he expected strong interest from the couple’s dedicated followers who might want to keep a tangible reminder of the day close at hand wherever they traveled. The items became available through an online platform designed for direct artist releases, with international buyers responsible for any applicable shipping fees or tariffs. This timing allowed the drop to capture attention shortly after the July third ceremony while building on Gignac’s history of quick sell outs for prior event based editions.
Collectors from more than thirty countries purchased the cubes, with the majority appearing to be fans of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce drawn to the connection with their wedding. Previous limited editions in the New York City Garbage series sold rapidly after other major events, including championship parades for the Yankees and Giants, the first day same sex marriage became legal in New York City, President Obama’s inauguration, and even an international edition created for Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. One earlier season of fifty cubes priced at one hundred dollars each sold out in roughly ninety minutes, showing consistent demand for the format when linked to timely cultural moments. Gignac has mentioned that passersby during the wedding day collection sometimes assumed he was a guest helping clean up after the celebration.
The rapid success of this drop and the accompanying online conversations highlight ongoing patterns in how enthusiasts engage with celebrity milestones through physical objects, even unconventional ones presented as art. While the offering prompted some commentary suggesting fans moderate their spending on such memorabilia, it also demonstrated how scarcity, clear narrative, and artistic framing can elevate ordinary street debris into desirable items. Gignac continues to share updates on future releases in the series through his established channels, allowing collectors to track expansions of the pocket sized format and other event tied drops.
