Sunday, February 11, 2007

FOUND OBJECTS

I collect things from the road side, both the incidental by-products of urban dwelling, such as shredded tire treads along the highway, and intentional discards left out for big trash pick up. Why do I do this? What is it about certain objects that draws me to collect them?

Decay.

I am drawn to both the symbolic and formal elements of decay, the way in which an object has been altered by its mere existence. The worn, broken, torn nature of the aged object seems to make it more real, more honest. Decay’s reference to ensuing death serves only to bare witness to life and decay becomes terribly rich, with a fullness of character. So I collect these decayed objects. I hold onto them for awhile. Cogitate. Eventually the formal and symbolic elements of the objects and my current research meld. Then I make.

1 comment:

Dean said...

Perhaps the greatest moment in our lives are not the few times we succeed, but the many ways in which we fail, in which we fall apart, in which we succumb. The artist that works in found materials re-presents the discarded (the reality of the decaying universe) to us in an effort to draw our attention away from the mythical culture of champions.

Cogitate = Gestate.
Re-imagine. Recycle, Rebirth.