John Chamberlain was an American sculptor known for the creative materials he used to create his expansive abstract sculptures. In 1957, Chamberlain began experimenting with scrap metal from cars, eventually building sculptures made entirely of crushed car parts welded together; from there, he moved on to galvanized steel, plexiglass, painted metals, and even aluminum foil. The practice was an evolution of Marcel Duchamp’s idea of the readymade, in which everyday objects can be seen as art. Unlike Duchamp, however, Chamberlain recycled these mundane materials, transforming them into detailed abstract masterpieces using a meticulous and detailed process. Karankawas Falls, 2003, is a large, colorful opus that showcases the beauty of that practice; and the idea that great beauty can come from even detritus.