You should be looking at Graciela Sacco. She's an Argentinian artist who likes to use heliography (similar to photography) on objects--soccer balls, stairs, slats of wood, books, spoons, etc. It's weird and cool and thought-provoking. I know so little about modern art--I'm at the stage where "I like what I like" and, well, let's just say that I think a lot of modern art is pretentious p***--that I'm always surprised when I like something done in the last fifty years. 
Take these spoons, for instance, with their hungry little sepia-colored mouths. I imagine using one to eat some soup and being a bit worried that the mouth would try to bite me. (Because, you know, inanimate objects with human attributes come to life pretty frequently. Which reminds me that when I was small I used to be scared that toilets would gobble me up--as though I'd just be sitting there, minding my own business, when --chomp! ...I have an active imagination.)On an entirely different note, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day! Argg!
Note: The original comments were:
Yar!
She's pretty awesome, isn't she? I had an art crush on her for a few years now. There are a lot of really interesting Latin American contemporary artists--check out Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, which has a host of them. Lowenstein's a dealer in Miami (where, unsurprisingly, a lot of great Latin American artists make their North American home).
hey thanks for your very nice comment. it's so difficult to know what to hope for in this situation, so I'm keeping focused on the kid: may the kid have the best outcome possible. that's my mantra.
sucks to know someone else had this happen. urggghh.