The Found and the Made

Alan Siegel

It has been said that the role of the artist is to point out what is beautiful in the world. “Found art” is seeing something extraordinary in the ordinary.
Many pieces in the show have required very little actual work on my part. They are the result of lucky finds made while searching through piles of discarded parts of trees.
Other pieces are the result of many hours of “making.”
A piece I call Dance is the result of two found pieces that met in my studio and hit it off.
Perhaps we relate to the trees that seem to have struggled to achieve their shape as analogous our bodies reflecting the experience of our lives. Older, hard worked bodies seem to tell stories more interesting to me than young ones.
It is my hope that the work will surprise you, both the “found” and the “made,” and communicate a kind of beauty that is mixed with darker emotions.