Object du jour: Frank Gaard's Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts Snowshovel (1969)

In an email, Minneapolis-based artist Frank Gaard explains this seasonally appropriate readymade from 1969:

I got the snowshovel when I first moved here from California in 1969. It was standard issue for renters in Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts buildings.

I thought it was pretty ironic. The fellow in the photo broke his arm that following summer; the title of the Duchamp readymade was In Advance of A Broken Arm. It seemed as if the readymades could be anywhere, made from anything. It was a skill-less art, no craft, just slight knowledge of contemporary art.