Personal objects

Personal found objects in art

The employment of personal objects in artwork has a very powerful effect. There is something very alluring about looking at someone’s personal items. The objects become their owner, anonymous or identified, and act as an extension of the owner that connects the viewer to him/her in a very intimate manner. The viewer’s interest in observing these objects may be motivated by voyeurism, empathy, admiration, curiosity and possession. The absence of the actual person makes the objects even more powerful and somehow sentimental. Even if the objects are those of a fictitious individual, serving as parts of a narrative imagined by the artist, the illusion may still be as powerful as reality.

Using found personal objects with biographical narrative in art is more of a contemporary notion. Found objects have made their way into artwork during modern art, with the avant-garde. But the focus has been on taking high-art down from its pedestal, questioning the borders of what art can be, usually using objects of mass-production without uniqueness or personal connotations. Even in post-modern movements such as Pop art, most objects used are dull commercial objects, having cultural and social implications rather than personal. (Although now they may be viewed more as nostalgic items, romanticised and personalised based on their time period.)

The depiction of objects in art

The depiction of personal objects in art has been mostly allegorical. As far back as the Renaissance, where the notion of individuation of the artist was firmly established, objects, landscapes, even figures were symbolic; usually of virtues, cultural values, phenomena and disciplines. The objects in nature morte paintings did not have owners or personal contexts.

As one of the artists having major influence on modern art, Van Gogh is a game changer in his depiction of objects. He differs from his contemporaries in his ability to depict objects as portraits. For example, the painting of his room can be regarded as an auto-portrait. Each object is an extension of himself and the viewer sees reflections of the owner. The objects are merely the artist’s things; for the viewer they are not symbols of anything other than the artist’s persona. The artist presents these objects to the viewer; they can be part of an intentional façade or be fictive, yet still they tell an intimate narrative. In this sense, Van Gogh is the first major artist to use objects in painting in the personal manner some artists much later on have employed found objects in contemporary art. About two decades later than Van Gogh, some of post-impressionist Marius Borgeaud’s paintings also depict figureless compositions of used objects; reminiscent of Van Gogh’s intimate approach. These paintings connect the objects with their owners/users, with the way they seem to have just been used a moment ago, echoing the presence of figures now gone. Reminiscent of Hopper's interiors, these paintings are less expressive than Van Gogh's, but similar in their manner of the personification of objects.

Van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles, 1888

 Marius Borgeaud, Table With Two Bowls and Bread, 1922

Unusual objects

Up until the late 19^th century, there seems to have been a separation between objects worth depicting in or integrating into artwork and objects that are viewed as trash, vile and unaesthetic. These ‘unusual’ objects can be bodily things such as hair or teeth, or a piece of used tissue paper, a tooth brush, etc. Francis Bacon was one of the first to break this dogma; with his depiction of meat at the butcher’s shop. Around the same time, Frida Kahlo also depicted things that may be counterintuitive to define as objects; such as a broken pelvic bone, or a withered orchid flower. Kahlo's work is known for its personal and autobiographical connotations; and these objects are extensions of her body, depicted literally as being tethered to her belly by cords. 

Objects do not need to be poetic and beautiful to acquire meaning. On the contrary, the most mundane objects can sometimes hold great sentimental and personal value. An object can be important just because it was touched or owned by a loved one; and kept like a souvenir.

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