ASSEMBLAGIST | Found Object Art | Recycled Art
Found object art described on wikipedia as
A found object (a loan translation from the French objet trouvé), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have a non-art function.
Years back, when I started my art on eBay I did not know found object art or assemblage art was even a thing. I am a self-taught artist and I have never studied art. It was not until I started attending art shows, or becoming more widely known and talking in more detail with my art collectors did I even realize the very long history of assemblage art.
Early in my career I was very privilidged to meet with and start to collect and sell the works of other self-taught, raw, folk artists such as Purvis Young, Mose Toliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Minnie Adkins, Ab the Flagman, Butch Anthony, Sulton Rogers. It was seeing and falling in love with the works of these southern folk artists that made me feel really at home with my desire to create art from the simplest of things. I love the idea of making great use of discarded pieces that have such beauty but are being ignored, tossed aside and viewed as useless junk by others.
I have always had an affinity for all things old, worn, rusty and decayed. I am someone who loves being in nature and I am rarely without a camera on my hikes. My eye is always drawn to that which is in a state of decay and I find beauty in how items are worn by being left outdoors in the elements to be ravaged by the wind, sun, rain and snow. To make artwork out of junk, discarded and found objects makes one me even more conscience of how much waste we produce as a society.
The below photos and video are one of my cross art work assemblages that I have created from the found objects on my many hikes and hunt & gather trips on the lookout for the perfect trash to create my art treasures.
