Your stu≠: lost, found and then reimagined as awork of art

More than paint, clay or thread, and waymore than any structured material like bronze or stone, the found object is the artistic medium of the millennium.

We live in a refashionable age, wheremaking things from scratch has been replaced by making things from scrap. Artists take our trash and use nails, wire and glue to give it newmeaning.

While you’ve been tossing your old vacuum cleaners in the Dumpster, Jimmy Descant has been transforming them into fantastical spaceships. Bernice Strawn has been collecting your rusty hooks and water-logged boards for her religious totems. Owen Gordon sewed your faded blue jeans into fabric collages.

It’s clever stuff, for sure, and it fuels “Scrounge,” the newexhibit in the lobby of Republic Plaza, Denver’s tallest building. The showismassive, full of large and colorfulworks and comes with two sideshowexhibits strong enough to compete for attention. Thewhole thing is a kid-friendly, adult-satisfying junk extravagan- za, and it’s free.

The show is a hall of fame for Denver’s legendary recyclers. Mario Rivoli returns from a long absence to show off his wall reliefs made from rubber ducks and Kewpie dolls. Phil Bender brings back his muffin pans converted into sculpture and Claudia Roulier loads up her old trinkets, seashells and empty medicine bottles into mysterious shadow boxes.

There are fresh names in the mix, too, like Joseph Coniff, who elevates an old school chair and a