THE FOUND OBJECT

A "found object" is a material artifact discovered by chance and assigned esthetic value in an artist’s hand. Found art may include a wide array of objects and items either discarded, forgotten, dropped, or misplaced – such as shoes, a fork, shopping carts, signs, doll heads, abandoned cars, clocks, mementos, or any object that can be reimagined through the lens of a camera.

Praxis Gallery seeks photographic art that investigates this idiom: exploring the subject of the “found object” as pure visual form, detached from its history or utility, or conversely, the representation of the object as a catalyst for exploring broader issues such as subjectivity and socialization, memory and loss, or love and death. All genres, capture types, an post-production processes are welcome for submission. Juried by W. Scott Olsen.

Juror | W. Scott Olsen

W. Scott Olsen is a Contributing Editor for FRAMES magazine, a quarterly printed magazine of photography, he hosts the popular podcast series, writes book reviews and the “Reading Frames” series of explications. His photography has been published in magazines internationally and appears frequently in both solo and group gallery exhibitions. Author of eleven books of narrative nonfiction, one collection of short fiction, and editor or co-editor of six anthologies, he is the also the former editor of the literary magazine Ascent. His essays, journalism and criticism appear widely. W. Scott Olsen lives in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he is a professor of English at Concordia College.