Swedlund, Charles. Found Objects: Mid-Century Genre Exhibition by Oscar Bailey and Charles Swedlund.

Upton Gallery, State University College at Buffalo, 1965. [With written contributions concerning Found Art by Frederick D. Leach, Jonathan Williams, Victor D'Amico, Herman F. Cole, and Charles Swedlund. The photographs of the Found Art are in themselves highly interesting as art images. Swedlund (M.S., Institute of Design, 1961), Assistant Professor of Photography and Co-Organizer of the exhibition, was primarily responsible for producing this illustrated 48 page catalog, which is a very early publication in his notable career.] Illustrated stiff wraps, very good.  Summary:

Found Objects: Mid-Century Genre (1965) is a collaborative, experimental photography book published by the Upton Gallery at the State University College at Buffalo. Conceived during a period of shifting perspectives in photographic education, the publication serves as both an exhibition catalog and a mid-century artistic manifesto exploring the concept of the "found object."

Key Elements of the Work

• The Imagery: The book features compelling black-and-white photographs taken by photographers Oscar Bailey and Charles Swedlund. Both artists were highly experimental educators—Bailey was teaching at Buffalo at the time, and Swedlund was deeply involved in pushing the technical and conceptual boundaries of the medium.

• The Subject Matter: Rather than traditional documentary or landscape photography, the imagery captures overlooked, discarded, or mass-produced items of mid-20th-century Americana. By isolating these ordinary "found objects" through the lens, Bailey and Swedlund elevate mundane, everyday trash and consumer goods into significant cultural artifacts and abstract art.

• Textual Contributions: The oblong softcover book is structurally unique for its collaborative depth. Alongside a foreword and acknowledgments by Oscar Bailey, it features written commentary and essays from a diverse group of mid-century artists, poets, and critics, including Jonathan Williams, Frederick D. Leach, Victor D'Amico, and Herman F. Cole.

Narrative Intent

The publication acts as a bridge between the photographic medium and the broader "Found Art" and Pop Art movements of the 1960s. By combining stark visual cataloging with multi-disciplinary text, the work challenges the traditional definitions of artistic subject matter. It argues that a photograph's value lies not in capturing pristine beauty, but in revealing the hidden ironies, textures, and genres of contemporary human consumption.