STATEMENT BY LAUREN LEVY

The phrase "found object" suggests a process of surprise, randomness and immersion in the Bressonian "perfect moment". My sculptures, which are made of non-traditional art materials, perhaps began in this way, but are now purposefully collected, collated and stockpiled before being put to artistic use.
This process of preparing materials is often where the ideas for these pieces begin. Sometimes during the meditative process of sorting thousands of buttons, I am aware of what I like to think of as the retained thoughts and actions of the previous users, in addition to the collective touch and inferred use of each button. Perhaps it is only my own projected narrative, but together, these materials form a collective memory that is like the cells in a complicated organism or voices in a choir. The use of wire preserves the original function of each "momento mori," should the user ever return to claim it.