What is a ready -made?

A ready-made, also known as found object art, or "found art," is an art object or artwork that is not traditionally considered as such, but is instead taken from ordinary life and presented in a gallery context.

Marcel Duchamp is generally associated with pioneering work of this kind in his readymades like Bicycle Wheel (1913) and Fountain (1917).

Since Duchamp began his experimentation with the use of ready-mades and found objects, many artists have worked within this realm of object exploration with the intention of calling into question what defines “art” from “non-art” and to challenge and provoke their audiences to see these works as art pieces or artistic statements.

Notable practitioners include:

* Elsa Morante

* Man Ray

* Alberto Giacometti

* Robert Rauschenberg,

* Kurt Schwitters

* Niki de Saint Phalle

* Andy Warhol

* Edward Kienholz

* Jasper Johns

* Arman

* Jeff Koons

* Richard Prince

* Damien Hirst