The Graduates Exhibition was an exhibition of young Taranaki artists, which included a series of artwork by Ian Lewis, including this readymade object titled Art Cap.
“I began to realize that the issue for art was to examine its context and in the process one would be investigating meaning, and ultimately reality.” Joseph Kosuth, 1991, Painting versus art versus culture (or why you can paint if you want to, but it probably wont matter).
This readymade cap was used as a proposition: Every time it was worn, the wearer became an artist or was making art. From going through my day to day business and my daily routine, the wearing of this cap allowed me to propose that anything could become part of the art making process. In doing so removing any need for myself to consider the beauty of the object. By doing this it allows the well used cap to change its function or meaning. Originally a sponsored promotional cap to promote a business, it was an item of clothing, then a tool used as a method of making art to an art object when exhibited. In this use of the cap, art is its intended purpose and the caps true meaning is defined through context and its application. Just as meaning isn’t in the spoken sounds of a word but in the the words use. The wearing of the object and the exhibition of my ‘art cap’ allowed me to question the relationships between the artist, the object and the viewer.
Ian Lewis.
Ian Lewis 