#found-object-art

#found-object-art

On the second floor of Hany Armanious's exhibition at Buxton Contemporary in Melbourne, a curl of tangerine peel lies on a shelf, its yellowing, pithy insides facing upwards. It feels like it should be cleaned up, but it won't be. The rind is not rubbish discarded by a careless visitor: it's a perfect resin cast made by Armanious. Placed carefully around the gallery are resin recreations of other items more commonly seen in bins: a group of melted candles, blobs of Blu-Tack, crumbly chunks of polystyrene.

Each day, Yuji Agematsu takes a walk for the explicit purpose of scouring the streets. The dried leaf, lost toy, and even the wad of gum discarded on a park bench are his treasures, which he retrieves and places in the clear cellophane that wraps a pack of cigarettes. Although Agematsu no longer smokes, this habit of wandering and collecting has been harder to break: he's been committed to it since 1996.