The Sea of Stuff. MVSEVM.org

Bottles, cans, clothes, electronics, papers, wheelchairs, drugs, airplanes, boxes, bombs, guns, cabinets, lamps, toys, sinks, buildings, cars, appliances, puzzles.

Some things are hand made, but all things are human made and nearly everything has been touched by someone’s hands, maybe many hands. The world is awash in goods. Some of these things are very ephemeral and fleeting, and some have the possibility of unbelievably long life.

We amass things around us. These things encircle us in concentric layers of familiarity and meaning. We imbue objects with worth, both of the sentimental variety (this thing is meaningful to me because it was my mother’s, or my child made it, or I found it on the beach), or worth ascribed to it by society (I collect action figures, emeralds, clocks, or pens because I will be able to sell them for as much or more money later on). Is anything purely utilitarian?

Some things we use daily and barely notice (I pick up the bottle of dish soap and squeeze some out into the sink of hot water, I pick up the sponge, then I pick up the plate and begin to scrub, I rinse the plate off and place it in the dish drainer, or maybe you brush your teeth and never look at your toothbrush), other items we may feel so strongly attached to that we place them above nearly everything else (of course I don’t talk with my brother; after Father died he sold the Wurlitzer with out even talking to me about it, and I never saw any of that money).

The way we use objects, and the care we take of them may or may not be evident to others, but usually things take on a patina of wear. This patina may contain traces of whoever uses it: fingerprints, DNA, oils, pheromones, and so on. A great deal of effort goes in to removing this patina or attempting to preserve, or restore objects to their pristine condition. Are all material things an attempt to overcome death?

How do we determine when something is worn out, or is no longer of use or significance? After something has been of use to us it may be of use to someone else, and we often move things along in an effort to prolong the object’s life or “usefulness”. Even things which were seemingly lost, or broken to shards, can be dug up out of the ground or pieced back together and while the vase may not hold water, it can tell us a great deal about the civilization that came before. Interestingly the patina of wear and age oftentimes increases an object’s worth.