- I think as an artist you don't only judge your artwork on the way that it looks.

It's also what was the process to get there and what is the impact it had on the, on the people who sees it.

The world is running outta resources while it's drowning in trash.

All my art is made of trash to me.

It's what I do.

And what I do is the things that I love the most.

- I'm a garbage artist, no dirty work plate.

Talk through my last 30 birthdays.

I'm a back, I'm wasted and tossed around, but I shine like a treasure.

- My name is Thomas Dam.

I'm a Danish artist and I make giant recycled wooden sculptures and then I hide them in the woods around the world.

- It's a treat when I get in the can because I'm a dumpster diver.

- When I was younger I did music videos and rap songs about dumpster diving.

I've just made a lot of projects with trash and probably estimated now more than 12 million people have traveled to stand in front of one of my trolls.

- And - The reason I chose Rhode Island is because I thought it was a good basis for a fairytale.

This one here is gonna be called Eric Rock.

The other one is gonna be called a great granite and she will be sitting, holding like a type of ceremony and instrument with necklace draping beats hanging on it.

I think what people like about the trolls is that I like making them.

It's playful.

People always say that it brings the child out in them.

One of the things that I really like is to imagine how somebody will find one of my sculptures if I was a little boy and I was going down the path and then turning around the corner and then boom.

I don't wanna make anything that I don't believe is, is cool.

And I think that shines through the art.

I think we're now 25 people in my full-time team in Denmark.

And then here we are 11 people here in in Rhode Island.

Now, I've never made a a trope before in Rhode Island and I have my big mission to put one in each state of the United States.

- So the bone structure starts with just the two by fours and then they do the shaping and then the, the cladding is basically the skin that goes over and covers it all up and gives it a nice shape.

That's where it actually becomes a sculpture and the whole mood of the piece is kind of comes together in this section.

- When we arrived here, the material that we had gotten was new and not all recycled, so we had to go out and find some other materials to make it recycle and make it scrap again.

You know what the biggest mountain is in Rhode Island?

It's the landfill.

Right?

Highest point of Rhode Island.

600 feet.

The landfill's 800 feet.

Right.

I don't consider myself a sustainable, a climate change artist or anything like, like that.

All those words.

They can, you can some else can deal with 'em.

I'm dealing with trash.

That's what my art is about.

It is about showing that trash can have a gigantic value, can have a value so big so it can bring 12 million people out to come and see my artwork.

There was a guy with a tractor who was supposed to move the head force last week so we could get it started here this morning.

Put the head on the second sculpture, but the head's still over there, so now we're just gonna try and move it on there.

This little piece of equipment here.

It sound fun to move a troll head on the golf cart.

So let's do it.

We go forward, right?

- Alright, I'm ready.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Just go be this local because me and Raven, we on top of the pallet now and then that tipping, how is the centering that way?

Okay.

We push it over that way we have anything to tie it are, we have to hold it when we're going on the gravel or go off road.

- It feels pretty good.

- Stay focused.

Don't lose your head.

Yeah, I got it.

I love to build.

Okay.

So we have to decide this, we have to get the, the backdrop to hang like from two meters or something like that and down.

I love that feeling of making something and see it grow - Down - A little and doing it together with your friends and enjoying it afterwards.

And yeah, just that feeling of accomplishment.

I'm happy with it here.

We'll figure out the, that stuff up there.

Now, me and my wife, hello.

We have two twin boys that are 22 months old and I'm a dad and it's, it's nice but I, I think that other people will definitely see me as a radical dad.

You know, because I, because I bring my, my whole family with me on this road trip.

But I've chosen to, to live my life in this way that I'm doing it for me.

That's right.

And I love it.

The project that I'm making in Rhode Island, it is gonna be called something with the thunderstorm.

I just started writing the poem for it.

Should I say it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, let me see if I can remember.

'cause I just read it down this morning 'cause 'cause I was working on it.

What was the thunder stone?

It was a mountain fully grown.

The highest peak that stood alone was where the thunder stone had home.

It used to be the mountain top was soft, but when the lightning struck, it hardened up and turned to rock.

That's why the thunder stone so top.

So all the different trolls will be about stones.

Like this one's holding a stone, the other one has a stone circle.

It is just cool that we can just take all these grabs and then we can make something that makes so many people excited.

Like I don't know if my peak as an artist is today, but today is definitely more successful than yesterday.

I come from being a rapper on the, on the street.

We would always sit outside the bodega drinking beers on the curb 'cause we couldn't afford to buy a $2 beers inside, you know.

Then my wife was like, you can just have a glass of wine.

And then I said, don't you remember what I just record in my rap song?

Because I say if time is money, then I'm a waste of time.

It's crazy when an ATM will make you wait in line.

I never chased a dime.

'cause money fades to shine.

I'll take a cheap cold beer with a taste of wine.

Yeah.

So that's kind of like my identity there, right?

- If you want to know what's going on.