Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch finds fame—and misery—as a garbage artist
A Squarespace website made for the reluctant sculptor gets more attention than he expects
Editor's Pick
“Sesame Street,” the beloved children’s educational program, first aired 50 years ago this month. As part of its anniversary celebration, local refuse grump Oscar the Grouch gets an unexpected taste of fame in an endearing short film directed by Jim Jenkins via O Positive that features web hosting services from Squarespace.
A chance encounter on Sesame Street with a tech-savvy art lover lands Oscar his first website. Across the world, art mavens mistake his piles of garbage for inspired sculptures—and his antisocial demeanor for the affected disdain of a true artistic genius.
Despite his increasingly vehement protests, Oscar is swept up in a whirlwind of critics, gallery owners and adoring fans all trying to get a piece of the latest talent on the scene. Oscar, who just wants to be left alone, rejects his newfound fame and bemoans the loss of privacy, the constant attention, the chatty people who love—rather than hate—everything he does.
And in his darkest moment, Oscar finally gets what he wants.
Real-life fans of Oscar the Grouch and his “art” can now purchase limited-edition art capsules from Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit responsible for “Sesame Street,” at OscarTrashArt.com. They’re created by actual garbage artist Justin Gignac and contain junk and memorabilia like week-old eggs, a feather from Big Bird or cookie bits dropped by Cookie Monster.
Credits
- Date
- Nov 25, 2019
- Client :
- Squarespace
- Chief Creative Officer :
- David Lee
- Director of Brand Creative :
- Ben Hughes
- Creative / Senior Art Director :
- Leilanni Todd
- Creative / Senior Copywriter :
- Matt McCarron
- Creative / Senior Art Director :
- Tim Scales
- Director of Creative Production :
- Sandra Nam
- Head of Production / Brand :
- Amy Kommatas
- Creative Producer :
- Jen McKenzie
- Business Affairs Manager :
- Kiersten Bergstrom
- Director of Brand Strategy Content Partnerships :
- Kevin Nabipour
- Partnerships / Senior Manager :
- Natasha Ivankovitser
- Creative Producer :
- Kim Santella
- Photographer :
- Craig Reynolds
- In Partnership With :
- Sesame Workshop
- Production Company :
- O Positive
- Director :
- Jim Jenkins
- Director of Photography :
- Stuart Dryburgh
- Production Designer :
- Julian Laverdiere
- Executive Producer/Line Producer :
- Marc Grill
- Editorial :
- ARCADE
- Editor :
- Geoff Hounsell
- Assistant Editor :
- Jeff Lopus
- Executive Producer :
- Sila Sawyer
- Producer :
- Andrew Cravotta
- Finishing + VFX :
- Method
- VFX Supervisor :
- Doug Luka
- Lead VFX Artist :
- Steve Morris
- Executive Producer :
- Graham Dunglinson
- Producer :
- Irka Seng
- Color :
- CO3
- Colorist :
- Tom Poole
- Color Producer :
- Alexandra Lubrano
- Music + Sound Design :
- Q Department
- Mix :
- Digital Arts
Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors
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