Objects reveal insights
On taking something that's not subject matter and making it subject matter
Hey 👋
Before I get stuck into the theme of this month’s newsletter I wanted to highlight an artist I’m a big fan of at the moment.
Seth Pimentel (aka african_ginger) is an illustrator, creator and visual artist that experiments with the boundaries of digital and traditional work. His work explores mental states, using pure, unbounded emotion as a guide. The result is beautifully graphic images which create a connection. And have sparked numerous brand collaborations across the world.
Now for the ✨main event✨ 👇
“Taking things out of context is a useful tool to an artist. It’s the concept of taking something that’s not subject matter and making it subject matter” - Ed Ruscha
Taking ordinary objects and putting them in unusual scenarios is common in art. It’s been well-known ever since Duchamp turned a bicycle wheel upside down, and called it a ‘readymade’.
It’s a useful trick to inspire new ideas and get to richer creative thinking. It also puts a mirror up to the world, to help the audience see something in a whole new way.
But, where this gets interesting is when we step out of the gallery setting and apply this thinking to the idiosyncrasies of things we see everyday. The ‘readymades’ we pass in the street, or at home, or the things others do without thinking that we, perhaps, think are a bit odd.
In ‘Making Do and Getting By’, Richard Wentworth photographed day-to-day hacks. A mug used to hold a window open for example or a wellington boot that became a doorstop.
As I mentioned last time, in everyday life we ‘neutralise objects'. We make unconscious associations and assumptions about them based on what we know. The role of the work of Wentworth and others is to help us ‘re-see’.
A well placed object in an ‘unusual’ setting can teach us about the culture of the city or country it’s in. Likewise, observing how our audience uses a product in context can sometimes tell us more than asking them a number of direct questions.
Insights are often formed from unusual opposites. By putting things which seem at odds together, these artists make space for new ideas to form.
Until next time 👋,
Harriet
Before I go I have one more recommendation I want to share.
The Colour of The Climate Crisis is a brilliant digital exhibition curated by Do The Green Thing. Showcasing “powerful work from 24 Black artists and artists of colour on the topic of race and the climate”. You can check it out here.