In my time as Tuscan’s finest fine art critic I have been outspoken about the concept of “found object” art, or “objets trouvés” as the French call it. Art is something that should be studied and carefully considered as it is created. More often than not objets trouvés feels rushed and lazy, as if someone tossed a pile of garbage into and art gallery. “Tada!”
Still, art may surprise, even objets trouvés. In 1941 Picasso created his incredible Head of a Bull out of nothing more than an old bicycle seat and handle bars. While many were surprised to find Picasso had dabbled in this format, I was equally surprised when I received word of such art from across the pond, in the small town of Frederick, Maryland.
It is my understanding that for years Frederick’s Town Hall has been host to a wretched pile of garbage. The pile has grown so heavy and cumbersome that some have accurately called it “a monument to human filth” that cannot garbagemen. That is until two anonymous local artists turned this trash pile into a piece of objets trouvés.
With paint as their chosen medium and trash as their canvas, what they created turned blight into art. The anonymous painters took the trash, formed into the shape of man who felt people of color were simply less than people and turned it into expression of frustration. A splash of red paint symbolizing the blood on the figure’s hands, while expressing the suppressed rage of a community forced to witness the local trash pile on a daily basis. Artist brilliance.
I was prepared to fly overseas and critique the piece in person until I was informed that city officials removed the art but left the trash. If the art is too provocative for the steps of town hall, why not remove the whole thing and let the community treasure it in a museum of some sort. Or at the very least, save money on Halloween decorations and leave the art be until the end of the month.
–Pasquale Barzetti
Famed Italian Art Critic/Guest Contributor
The Annual 