Object Sketches is a series of temporary, outdoor sculptures that emerged in response to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the ability to travel or access fabrication facilities, Present Practice initiated a series of found-object installations at the Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory at The Ohio State University—a paradigmatically midwestern landscape of corn, soy, and dairy. This work takes as its focus the industrial artifacts of this place—in many cases used, spent, or discarded agricultural objects—and foregrounds them, prioritizes and resituates them, grants them autonomy and objecthood, and contemplates the tension between their narrow purpose and the landscape’s willingness (or unwillingness) to comply.
