During the three months he was there in 1923 he spent most of his time indoors making his proto-Pop Art paintings of banal objects.

What follows is a staged impromptu puppet show for all ages that strives to reveal the potential for life in every seemingly banal object or job.

In Ms. Skoglund's tableaux, banal or kitschy objects often come to life as they do here, engulfing scenes like particularly grotesque forms of ivy.

He treats banal objects reverently.

The most banal objects provoke the most cosmic thoughts.

As in his life, he was an alchemist, converting banal objects like high power-line insulators into exotic totems.

"We tend to use the most banal objects," Mr. Ligano said.

Working on the redesign of a banal object is not going to change culture.

Tom Sachs, one of the art world's most lovable enfants terribles, is famous for transforming high-chic packaging into representations of banal objects.

They are in effect three-dimensional paintings that pass as banal objects: a fast-food trash bin, smudged kitchen cabinets and a small refrigerator.