A Found Object is a man-made work piece usually found by the artist and sometimes altered in a way to convey meaning. That is one definition of Found Object another way I would explain Found Object is that it is Appropriation with objects found in the world around you and the works made with these objects may sometimes be used as inspiration for artists and their work. An example of inspiration due to Found Object would be the sculptor Henry Moore who collected bones and flints which he seems to have treated as natural sculptures as well as sources for his own work. Another variation of Found Object used by an artist with be Duchamp’s readymades which are works of art crafted from manufactured objects and the best way to describe what Duchamp was trying to accomplish would be with this quote: ‘…based on a reaction of visual indifference, with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste…’ as he quoted in The Art of Assemblage: A Symposium, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 19, 1961. This quote to me says that with his work he was trying to achieve work that made people think as they would be completely neutral in thinking about his work to cause debate which he seemed to have caused in the art world.
Below are examples of both Moore’s and Duchamp’s work
