This image was taken on a pedestrian crossing in central Canberra. A leaf must have been lying in the roadway when the markings for the pedestrian crossing were spared on. Of course the paint stuck to the leaf and not the roadway, and now this durable stencil is left, so no matter the season, there is always at least one autumn leaf on the ground!
I was poking about looking at things in a patch of pine trees beside the bike path that goes around Lake Burley Griffin. A popular route with cyclists and walkers, and with only a narrow strip of accessible land between the lake and a fenced off golf course. So I was surprised to find these massive earth sculptures amongst the pines. Well, of course they aren’t really sculptures – they are a series of ramps for use by daring mountain bike riders. No less impressive though. You can’t really tell in the photo, but trust me, these are some very well made, and quite substantial pieces of work. They are entirely hand made as far as I can tell – there really isn’t room to get any machinery in there – someone has spent many clandestine hours making these things – and they have built them to last. And all just 20 meters or so from the busy path. Goes to show that lack of ownership or sanctioned access to land is no barrier to some peoples desire to build things. I was so glad I strayed a little and found these lovely objects – doesn’t the red earth look just fine against the green pines.
I found this trace of someone’s creative impulse outside the Drill Hall Gallery recently. Obviously a minimalist. Or constructivist perhaps? I wonder if it was a family outing – Mum, Dad and a little person, each had and ice-cream on the bench outside the gallery.
Noticed this tree near central station. Seems like someone decided this low branch was a danger to public safety and wrapped it in warning tape. I think it qualifies as ‘found art’ (and I’m fairly sure it wasn’t intended as art?). Maybe I should get me some more red and white tape and finish the rest of the tree.
When I introduced the idea of ‘found art‘, the examples I gave were quite clearly ‘creative’ in intent. Today’s found art object is somewhat more ambiguous. A CD tied to a fence doesn’t really sound all that creative, but then what is this object doing there? Why in that particular place? Was it intentional, or coincidence that the text on the CD matches the colour of the flagging tape? Ever since Duchamp started to present his readymades in 1915, then any object or juxtaposition of objects could become art when presented in a gallery. But how do we recognize a “readymade” art object if it isn’t in a gallery, if it isn’t labeled as art. Is it only the preserve of artists to be able to label an object as art, or can the viewer act as the agent that defines what is art – even if the person who put the object there had some other intention. If I find some subtle intervention in the expected order of things (like a CD tied to a fence with flagging tape) and decide that I will read it as the trace of a creative act, does that make it art. Oh I like the sound of that – “the trace of a creative act”.
Further to today’s earlier post about the assemblage art left behind by unknown citizens – this photo was taken behind the Cook shops and sent to me by David Wills at Turnstile.
I’m starting a new category of post today – it’s called Found Art. What IS art – it is a question that has been asked many times before but what the hell, I’m going to go right ahead and ask it all over again.
My interest in what I am going to call found art comes in part from thinking about how people might respond to the work I have been doing if they came across it while they were out walking. Would they see it as art? Maybe, maybe not. I am interested in the many ways in which people engage with the physical world as a form of expression or creativity – and I’m not just talking about professional artists – anybody. Perhaps it is time to illustrate so you know what I’m talking about. All of today’s pictures were taken near Depot Beach in southern NSW recently (and none of them were made by me).
So who made these piles of rocks? Did they think of it as art, or of themselves as artists? Actually, having passed this spot several times over a couple of days I happen to know it was added to over time (and I think by different people). What is the impulse that causes some people, when confronted with a pebbly beach, to make piles of rocks? You see it a lot on mountain tops too – and again the additive process – once one person makes a cairn, others will feel compelled to add to it. This is actually formalised within religious practice in some places, such as the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau.
This pebble face was just plain funny! A lot of this beach art seems to be akin to doodling, but with material things instead of drawn lines of pen or pencil. So you can start to see the kinds of things I’m going to be posting under this new category. Of course graffiti might qualify, but that’s not really what I’m interested in here – for starters it is ubiquitous and has been discussed at length already by others – it is also a more self consciously creative activity. I’m interested in the stuff that is a little more ambiguous in it’s purpose or creative intent. Today’s pics are fairly clearly the work of someone being creative – other posts will be more of a stretch.
Was this made by an Andy Goldsworthy fan? Or an expression of the innate human impulse to sort and categorize?
I’d love to hear your comments on this post. (I welcome comments on any post of course). Have you seen something lately that might be found art? Send me a pic and I’ll post it up.
