Grace notes

The world is beset by volatility; objects that suggest something akin to an honest response to life help frame the questions that animate the culture. Life is also composed of grace notes, and when those notes become art, they lift our spirits through the modesty of their rendering. The materials used by many of today's artists are redeemed from the rubbish heap and are Franciscan in their simplicity. Extravagant gestures have given way to a handshake or a hug (maybe even a shrug). The best of the work defies a simple knee-jerk response because it tends to be conversational, it wants to slow the passerby down for a chat.

Richard Flood, 'Not about Mel Gibson' in Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century (Phaidon, 2007) p. 12