Postmodernism is definitely a movement of the past, and many believe there hasn’t been a well-defined movement to follow in its wake. Yet others cite the distinctive aesthetic founded on eco-consciousness and animated by a rugged DIY spirit (particularly in the current economic climate) as the emerging modern movement in art and design.

This budding aesthetic is best illustrated by artists like Joshua Allen Harris. The New York City street artist looks at two abundant and seemingly useless things – trash bags and subway exhaust – in a completely new way. Part urban prank and part fine art, he creates animals (both real and mystical) using nothing but garbage bags and tape. The completed creatures are taped to subway grilles and appear to be piles of trash until a train rushes by underneath. The air blowing up through the grill fills the bags and animates the creatures, inspiring curiosity, admiration or outright terror in pedestrians.

Just when Harris started to become bored with his self-created artistic medium, a 2008 video interview with New York Magazine sparked a torrent of interest on YouTube and in blogs. The visibility has renewed his passion and spurred him to take up his scissors and tape again to craft fantastical beasts purely from his imagination.