Beyond the Readymade by Alison Kearney

Beyond the Readymade was written by curator Alison Kearney and published by Wits Art Museum, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2018 to accompany the exhibition of the same name, held at the museum from 13 June to 9 September 2018. Layout and production are by Paul Emmanuel Design, the studio of the noted South African artist Paul Emmanuel.

Beyond the Readymade presents Kearney’s essay on the use of found and everyday objects in art, moving past Marcel Duchamp’s notion of the readymade. Chapters include Thinking Beyond the Readymade, Rupture, Moving Away from Representation, Objects and Meaning, The Social Life of Objects, Objects Shape Us as Much as We Shape Them, Embodied Meanings, The Unheroic and The Agency of Found Objects, followed by references and acknowledgements. Works from the museum’s collection are reproduced in colour with full captions.

A useful and well-produced text for art students, lecturers and researchers, collectors of Wits Art Museum publications, and anyone interested in contemporary South African art and the art of the found object.

Condition – Near Fine

A near fine, clean copy of this stapled softcover booklet. The covers are bright and fresh with only the faintest signs of handling, the spine fold is sound and the staples are secure. The pages are clean and unmarked, with no inscriptions.