RAMSEY DAU
In 2017, Dau published Readymade, with his imprint, CS Editions. The book consists of 39 street photographs taken predominantly in Los Angeles. “I am drawn to taking a certain type of picture, images of what I might term "accidental" art in the urban environment – unintentional compositions of color, shape, and pattern right there for everyone to see, but rarely appreciated: walls with Rothko-esque blocks of color where a shop-owner has painted over graffiti with whatever color paint he has on hand, alleys with "installations" of piled trash, or bodegas and ice-cream trucks with naively painted signs that rival Warhol's pop sensibilities. There is something powerfully genuine about these unintentional works of art. Duchamp was maybe the first to understand this; he galled the art world by submitting a urinal to an exhibition (it was summarily rejected). But Fountain (and other 'readymades') would go on to launch an entire movement in art which asked the question, "What is art?" (or rather, "What isn't art?”), and continues to inspire artists 100 years later.”
