"Readymades: American Roadside Artifacts" is a catalog of ordinary objects found along the roadside that represent everyday America. Those objects are shown in 274 color photos by Jeff Brouws, with essays and commentary by several contributors. The pages of this chunky. little book open, to reveal abandoned gasoline stations and abandoned drive-in movies, some whose silver screens have been worn to their bare bones. Everything in this book appears abandoned, as no people are in sight. However, there are plenty of partially painted pickup trucks, freshly painted houses (in lavender, turquoise, fuchsia, fire-engine red and bubble-gum pink) and railroad freight cars woefully in need of paint. Signs of various types - on poles, individual letters affixed over doorways, and faded paint on walls - document daily life as they identify motels, bowling alleys, coffee shops, bus depots and locksmiths. Signs point the way to "Quality Parts," "Immediate Marriage" and "Useable Materials" - whatever they are - just as "Readymades" leads readers to unusual views of American life found off the interstate and just down the road a piece.

- Chicago Tribune -- -.