Oscar the Grouch Becomes Art Scene Enfant Terrible for Squarespace

Irascible. Aloof. Contrarian. When you think about it, Oscar the Grouch has always been a tortured artist – it just took the creative minds at Squarespace to coax it out of him. Their new campaign sees the Sesame Street dumpster-dweller find fame in the artworld after a helpful neighbour mistakes his trash collection for a visionary creative masterpiece. She builds him a slick new website to showcase his ‘art’ and – despite his protestations, or perhaps because of him – he becomes a celebrated artist.

The campaign coincides with the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street, the show that democratised education and made stars of Oscar as well as the Count, Big Bird, Elmo, and Bert and Ernie.

Production company O Positive and director Jim Jenkins have brought the hero film to life, with VFX from Method and editing from Arcade’s Geoff Hounsel. Meanwhile, the creative was devised by Squarespace's inhouse agency which has clocked up an impressive back catalogue of spots that combine celebrities' unexpected passions with stylish websites.

Anyone inspired by Oscar’s objets can visit the website oscartrashart.com, where the artwork has been hosted for sale. Oscar may have been helped along by real artist Justin Gignac, who has been packing New York garbage into ironic capsules since 2001. (You can check out more of his work here nycgarbage.com.)

The unique Oscar ‘Trash’ collection was put on sale for $150 a piece, with all profits going to Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street that works to bring early years education to kids around the world. Anyone hoping to pick up one of the 25 art capsules might be in for disappointment – they’ve already sold out, despite only going on sale on November 25th.