Dario Robleto. This is another artist that I was introduced to by a band. Yo La Tengo used some of his work as album artwork their new record. I was unable to find them online, but Dario has also done some sort of "fake album cover" pieces that are really cool. At any rate, I think all of his work is deals closely with the music that he loves; for example, he uses like T Rex or Nina Simone records that he'll melt down into workable plastic that he then uses to build parts of his sculptures. The information encoded on the record that gave it its original value is completely lost, but Robleto is counting on the idea that there is some kind of spirit in the materials that survives that destructive process. He is battling materialism with art; our ignorance of the history and meaning of all of the materials that surround us and that is the kind of thing that I have been looking for in art my whole life. I don't think I've ever seen someone do it so clearly and straightforwardly. I think all of his sculptures are really attractive on their own, but you really get his work when you read the title of it and the materials used to make it. Then you find out that there is this really meaningful story in the materials, this long history that may have began centuries ago, and this makes me want to investigate the make up of any of the objects around me. There is surely a story that is just as enlightening in my 4 dollar toaster or the shoes I'm wearing.