In the box.. out of the box

Memento Mori I, 2005
mixed media, 12x17x3"

Cernunnos, 2005
mixed media, 12x17x3"

 As an artist who works with found objects, there is always a question about the best way to present them.  Following in the legacy of artists like Joseph Cornell, I have always found boxes - 'cabinets of curiosities' to be especially evocative.  What is it that the items have in common?  What does it all mean?  Boxes can become carefully composed images, or miniature universes.

 

Darkest Night, 2005
mixed media, 8x60x8"



I am often intrigued by the connections that can be made between seemingly unrelated objects once they are placed together.  Hidden stories and ideas emerge as the work is created, and at every exhibition I find that I learn something new as people share their ideas or little known facts with me.  I learned about the link between sea horses and the hippocampus in the brain at one show, and about the difference between monarch and regent butterflies at another!

In some work, I have tried to work on a larger scale, and also to break away from the 'box'.  This can be an exciting but daunting approach, and I am happy with some of the results.  This piece is part of a series of six works that were created for an exhibition at transit gallery in Hamilton.  They were hung about eight inches off the floor, so they were the same height as the average person.  I thought about the references to the body when I was working, and this influenced the overall composition.