Creative Review 'Out Of The Box' Article

In a previous blog post I mentioned how pleased I am to have had a few of my sculptures featured in the new art book, 'Out of The Box' by Tom Buchanan. Creative Review (that I first remember encountering way back in the 80s when I was an art student, and when it was the go to printed magazine for artists, designers and professional creatives), have just published an article about the book. Here it is in full - lifted directly from their site.

Shore Finds by Lisa Woollett

Designer Tom Buchanan explores the unusual world of box art in his new book

Out of the Box offers a kaleidoscopic view of a practice and pastime that often goes overlooked

By Daniel Milroy Maher 13/12/2022 

A new book titled Out of the Box presents a decade’s worth of research, curation and documentation revolving around ‘box art’. The term is a vague one, but the book’s author, Tom Buchanan, offers a comprehensible – if slightly ambiguous – definition: “Artworks which have evolved, been created within, or even escaped from a box.”

Understandably, such artworks are vast, varying and open to interpretation, and the practice of creating them is almost impossible to neatly categorise. As a result, those found in this book encompass “fine art and design, decorative and serious, and artefact and artifice captured in miniature”.

Me Tarzan, You Mad Men by Maria Rivans. All book photography: Peter Mallet

 

The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight in The Dusk by Steffen Dam 

The job of finding, understanding and curating such a miscellaneous mix of artworks undoubtedly requires a dedicated and knowledgeable figure, and Buchanan is just that. The London-based designer and artist has long been interested in the human desire for collecting and using objects, and has been organising exhibitions on box art since 2012, when he first put a nationwide call-out for such pieces.

The response to this search was overwhelmingly positive, and Buchanan soon realised that what once seemed like an obscure and potentially limited area of the art world was actually fertile ground for discovery. Since then, he has spent much of his spare time studying and curating box art, and now, ten years later, has compiled over 500 works from more than 100 creatives to be featured in this book, which takes its name from his very first exhibition all those years ago.

Photo of vintage toothbrushes, hair curler pins and combs by Lisa Woollett 

Objects from Micah Lexier’s archive 

“Perhaps when I started this project it was more innocently about artistic possibility, how material objects inspire our creative practice,” says Buchanan, speaking on the origins of this endeavour, “yet the study became as much about anthropology and our need for collecting and containment.”

He goes on: “As a rule, us creatives tend to be compulsive collectors. The finding, locating, cataloguing and displaying of souvenirs provides some kind of ordered path through the everyday.”

Photos by Docubyte, from his collection of vintage technology

Erased Composition by Marcius Galan, photo by Marcela Arruda

Dice by Martin O’Neill 

Naturally, the contributors featured in the book come from all walks of life, and include both hobby collectors and established artists, some resulting from submissions and others from chance encounters. Each brings something different to the table, quite literally, and yet all are bound by a desire to collect and use images, objects and materials, creating new forms, functions and understandings.

Discussing the book’s curation, Buchanan explains: “I like the fact that the book provides an equal stage for really established professionals as well as total outsider artists, all bound by a curious concept. The final choices were sometimes driven by this diversity as well as sharing very individual stories. The study of course is infinite and we could easily do another book.”

Out of The Box is published by Eight Books; 8books.co.uk

Lycra Sausage

For some time now I've been planning a sculpture series called 'Never Let You Go'; a body of work comprised of individual stuffed fabric sausages that are each trapped within an elongated, rib cage-like, vine structure that appears to be tightly embracing them.

Inside-out end of fabric sausage skin, sewn into a dome shape

Initially, I made a small test piece (see earlier 'Never Let You Go' blog post) using a cotton fabric but after I'd hand stitched it, stuffed it, and inserted it into the vine structure that I'd prepared for it, I found that it didn't have the right amount of 'bulginess' between the vine's stems, that I was looking for. With that in mind, I've decided to switch fabric and try spandex/elastane instead. 

Partially stuffed, fabric sausage element of Never Let You Go sculpture

After a few failed attempts at machine sewing this material I decided go for the slow but sure method, and sew it by hand. Apparently, unless you're a proficient machinist (and I've not used a sewing machine since I was at school, and the only item of clothing that I managed to make whilst at there was an uncomfortably tight pair of PE shorts) spandex/elastane is notoriously tricky to machine sew.

Completed sausage element of Never Let You Go sculpture, relaxing on artist's bed

For this first, full-sized, version of a Never Let You Go sculpture I wanted the sausage element to protrude a reasonable distance from each end of the vine part of the work, so I settled upon a length of roughly 260 cm. After I'd sewn and stuffed it, I soon realised just how big a 8.5 foot long fabric sausage actually was - as you can see from this photo of it lying on my bed (the only place I could think of to temporarily dump it when I needed the bench space in my studio, to work on some drawings for a commission that unexpectedly came up).

Here's a little video that I made toward the end of the hand sewing stage - after I'd finished rounding off of the sausage ends.