Vanish

Found Object artworks and Ready-Mades are often confused. Both artforms repurpose found materials, but Ready-Mades are not reformed, while Found Object works are an artistic assemblage (in fact, Assemblage can be used interchangeably with Found-Object work [and I will be doing so from here on out because it’s less of a mouthful]) of found objects. David Gallo’s Vanish is a virtuoso example of this quirky, mysterious, and extraordinary artistic approach.

Assemblages are so engaging because they highlight art's materiality. They provide an interesting commentary on waste: should materials disappear into the void like Gallo’s retreating frames or be repurposed (again, like Gallo’s retreating frames)? What makes a material worthy of incorporation in an artwork? But, and most interestingly (in my opinion), where does the artwork begin and end. A frame is usually seen as an adornment or garnish to a painting and not part of the work itself, but how can this be when a frame can drastically change our perception of the work it contains? No matter how much I liked a picture, I would never put it on my wall in Vanish’s second and most heavily ornamental frame. However, I would very much like the frame (which I previously found extremely garish) on my wall as it appears in Vanish. This drastic change in perception gets to the heart of Assemblage’s intrigue: something that would be considered garbage, ugly, or decorative suddenly becomes high art when imaginatively placed in a new context. Gallo is an alchemist, but instead of turning lead into gold, he turns the world’s rejected scraps into beautiful and conceptually rich art. One moment you throw something in the trash, and the next, you stare at it in awe on a museum wall. Magic.