Fluxus Box

 Deception

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Deception, Mosaic Glass Pieces, Clear Gorilla Glue, Glass Jars, Air Dry Clay, Paint, Synthetic Plants, Wood, Paper, Ink, 9”x12”x15.5”

Objects

Details

Artist Statement

This Fluxus Box was created around the concept that “things aren’t what they seem”. I’ve always had a fascination with poisonous plants and flowers and see them as one of natures biggest deceptions. Like so often with poisonous things, poisonous flowers look beautiful and are quite common in the case of the lily but can cause some nasty side effects if they are touched or ingested. This was the first deception I added to my box. At first it look like a pretty little greenhouse but as you interact with it and take out the little planters you read the side effects of each plant and get a hint of what’s wrong. The second deception is when you open the planters and find little severed body parts in each planter. Suddenly this greenhouse doesn’t seem so pretty. Thats what I wanted to accomplish with this piece I wanted to take a place that looks safe and peaceful and completely flip the viewers perception of it. I wanted to take something expected and twist into something else completely. The heart of this work is that things are seldom what they pear on the surface. 

In-Process Pictures

Research Images

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/g1174/deadly-poisonous-plants/

Artist Inspiration

https://foundations3ddesign.blogspot.com/search/label/Fluxus%20Box%20Artists

Notes

The Maze Runner: Death Cure

The Emperors New Groove

The most tedious part of this process was putting the mosaic glass into each “panel” along the box and lid and then waiting for them to dry.

My favorite part was creating the little body parts by sculpting air dry clay. I’ve never used it before and it was really fun to expire next and learn how to use a new material. 

I’m happy that I was able to incorporate one of my interests into this project as poisonous plants have always been a point of interest for me. The hardest part was making each plant miniature and still resemble its actual plant counterpart. I think adding the labels with the plants name/side effect helps with that, though. 

Paper Sculpture

Developing

The Cost of Developing, Water Color Paper, Clear Drying Gorilla Glue, 10”x11.5”

Details

 

 https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/painting-formats-in-east-asian-art

Art Work 1 

Windblown Bamboo

Xia Chang

Applying calligraphic techniques to painting according to the precepts established by Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), Xia Chang executed his bamboo stalks in the archaic seal-script style and his bamboo twigs in the "grass," or cursive-script, style. Xia Chang's calligraphic mode of bamboo painting was followed by many later Ming and Qing painters.

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/painting-formats-in-east-asian-art

Art Work 2

Old Plum

Kano Sansetsu 

The massive black trunk of an ancient plum tree with bending, twisting branches spans nearly sixteen feet across four sliding panels. The reptilian old tree sprouts blossoms, which convey the atmosphere of a cold early spring morning and symbolize birth and renewal. These panels originally formed one wall of a room in the Tenshōin, a subtemple of Myōshinji, a Zen temple in Kyoto. During the 1880s, they were sold to a private collector and trimmed at the top to conform to the smaller dimensions of his home. On the reverse of these panels was a composition depicting the Chinese theme of the Eight Daoist Immortals, which formed a wall in the adjacent room. This composition was later separated and remounted, and it is now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Artist Statement 

This work was inspired by the above photos through its focus on nature specifically trees and leaves. I loved the organic movement of Old Plum and the orientation of Wind Blown Bamboo. I wanted to emulate the minimalistic qualities that allow the areas of intense detail or textures stand out. I wanted to tell the story of industrialization and how to move forward we have to destroy the beauty that was there before. Which is why I chose to include the building growing out of the giant tree. 

Secret Lives of Color

Tyrian Purple 

Tyrian Purple, Guache on Paper

Tyrian Purple was a very coveted color in the Bronze Age 1600 BC. This color was very hard to make so own a piece of clothing this color was a symbol of status and extreme wealth. This was the case even more so when King Caesar decreed on he could wear Tyrian Purple. The reason this color was so rare and difficult to make is because to make even a single piece of clothing took thousands of sea snails as each one only produced a single drop of this pigment. The two primary sea snails that could be harvested to make this pigment were Murex Brandaris and Hexaplex Trunculus (depicted above). In this piece I wanted to focus the living creatures that were killed in the hundreds of thousands to acquires this rare purple pigment, paying homage in a way to these adorable creatures. 

Terre Verte

Terre Verte, Alcohol Markers and White Gel Pens on Paper

 In the renaissance era colorful pigments were very hard to acquire and most of the time toxic if ingested. One of the hardest colors to find and most expensive colors to buy was green. However, Terre Verte was made from soft earth and came in a variety of shade it was readily available and cheap yet most artist showed stubborn indifference to this pigment. It wasn’t until Jules Verne took this pigment to do the under painting of skin and published a book wilt all the ways you could use Terre Verte that it became wide spread and used by almost every artist of the time. I wanted to show this by drawing a hand reaching to pull a tube of Terre Verte paint out of a trash can. 

Speaker Events

 Speaker Event #1

Stephenie Hollios 

Speaker Event #2

Paul M. Collin’s