canklecat

Heck, no. I didn't touch anything. When I saw those two objects together I started looking around for blood or evidence of a crime, thinking I might report it to the police. But it appeared to be a prank or someone's idea of a primitive cave art installation.

Some graffitists consider themselves artists and philosophers, so I'm not surprised by anything I find while looking for new graffiti or street art.

A few years ago I met an artist from the midwest whose pet project includes assembling seemingly random small objects into small impromptu sculptures and installations. He arranges them in semi-public spaces, just leaving them for passersby to discover and choose their own interpretations for what it means. He let me photograph him in action, assembling an impromptu installation with objects that seemed to suggest concepts of fate, luck, fortune or misfortune. These were left outside a local symphony concert auditorium. I wondered whether anyone else saw it, or whether it was simply discarded by the maintenance crew the next morning. But the artist himself wasn't concerned. The clean-up guy himself is just as valid a potential audience as a formally dressed couple leaving the concert.

The sex toy and knife were exactly as I found them. I try not to touch or move anything when I photograph found objects, although occasionally I've moved discarded notes and photographs to photograph more or less in the same place I found them.

I didn't open or even touch the knife, but looking at it from all sides, it appeared to be a very cheap box cutter type replaceable blade fitted into a folding knife design rather than the usual push/pull design. Probably something available at any dollar store for a buck or two.