The objects that appear throughout the exhibition began as ordinary possessions. Before they were grouped into assemblages, they existed independently—on bookshelves, tables, windowsills, or carried through daily life. They were selected intuitively, often for their form, color, or presence rather than any intended artistic purpose.

Object Studies returns each of these objects to that earlier state.

Photographed individually, they reveal their original identities while preserving the memories they had already accumulated before entering the work. Many appear exactly as they once existed in the shared apartment on Eldridge Street; others are shown at the places from which they originated or were first discovered. Together they form a visual record of the material vocabulary that would later become the foundation of the exhibition.

Many of these objects no longer exist in their original form. They have been separated, broken apart, or redistributed across multiple works. A single UNO deck, for example, has since been dismantled, its individual cards incorporated into several separate pieces. Their meaning expanded through use, but their provenance remains here.

Object Studies documents the moment before transformation.

It is an archive of materials before they became artworks, and a reminder that meaning is rarely created from nothing. More often, it is recognized, preserved, and continually reauthored through attention.