Artistic concepts of readymade art- Between Materials and Ideas

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Field Sculpture - Luxor University

Abstract

This research sheds light on the concepts of readymade art in contemporary sculpture, and the different methods of utilizing ready objects through selected case studies of the works of contemporary sculptors, and to show through their works how they deploy readymade or found objects in their creations.

Readymade objects played a key role in changing the philosophy of contemporary sculpture and what became known as three dimensional modelling. The research deals specifically with the problem of the concept of readymade sculpture as art and that it is not limited to found objects or the deletion or addition to include assembly and modifications to create novel three dimensional artwork.

In general, some artists resorted to express their ideas with ready-made media without resorting to compilation or to any modification through sculptural interventions. Others, selected objects of a certain form in a special way in order to re-employ them and modify them in new sculptural forms. Accordingly, this research aims to explore the variety of approaches involved in the utilization of ready-made and found objects in contemporary art, and to reveal to what extent did the use of readymade objects provide the artist with the means by which he or she can his or her own ideas in a novel way. The uses of readymade art were also insperabe from its role as conceptual art and in connecting art to human affairs and world culture since WWI.

Problematic
The concept of sculpture has changed over time leading to a confusion of concepts and terms. Here lies the problematic of this research which attempts to re-examine what has been traditionally referred to as “sculpture” in light on new experimentation of artistic creations under the label of “sculpture”

Keywords


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