Found Objects #1: Missing Pill

It’s unusual that one would select something that was missing and declare it a “found object” since the object is technically not “found” at all, but remains quite absent even after it has been declared a work of art.

It’s not so much that the object never existed either. I’m not trying to convince you the pill is actually in the packet and that it’s invisible, or present in some transcendental way; nor am I implying something was in fact “found”, but that I have simply chosen not to show it to you as some sort of commentary on our innate desire to protect, covet, and attempt ownership of a certain knowledge or some great secret: I have something, it’s art, but you can’t know what it is.   Neither am I suggesting something along these lines.

No, it’s nothing like that at all. What I do find fascinating with this image though, is that the pill really did exist, it was obviously in the package at some point in time, but now seems to have disappeared. Did someone consume the pill? Was it lost? Was it set aside someplace else for later ingestion? Did it disappear while in the owner’s possession, or was it already gone when the package was opened? Where is the pill now? The image alone does not provide a satisfying enough answer as to why the pill is not in the package, though the evidence is clear that a pill certainly did exist in the empty place it left behind.

My point is, sometimes what isn’t in the image can say much more than what is actually visible, and exercising such awareness when contemplating art and its context can prove to be extremely rewarding and enlightening to the observer. Critical and analytical thinking is a key component in understanding art, and the provided image shouldn't be treated any different. There is a hidden narrative that exists in the image that no one can ever truly uncover, save, perhaps, the person that actually took the pill (if in fact a person did take it), and I doubt very much that the person who did take the pill ever wonders if anyone else is concerned about the pill's "story". 

It's likely we've all taken pills of some kind for one purpose or another, so chances are the tale of the particular pill that has gone astray in this image is hardly any different -- probably quite ordinary and mundane.  Yet, we can't know for sure.  Maybe this was the final pill that thrust its swallower spiraling and convulsing into a violent drug overdose, or maybe it was the pill that was finally capable of alleviating its swallower’s month-long struggle with a migraine headache, or maybe the person who swallowed the pill simply choked on it and died.   We’ll never know.  But one thing we can be sure of is there's usually more than meets the eye, and contemplating different perspectives when viewing art can be nothing less than invaluable.