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FLUXHIBITION #3: Thinking Inside of the Box

Boxes, Cases, Kits and Containers from the Permanent Collection - July 2009

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This exhibition started out as a call to assemblage artists from the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction when I happened onto a large stash of cigar boxes. I then invited artists to contribute a box assemblage - possibly using one of these collected boxes - to the Museum's permanent collection for the exhibition entitled Thinking Inside of the Box. Then there was the bright idea to continue the thought by focusing the FluxMuseum's Fluxhibition #3 around the idea of Boxes, Cases, Kits and Containers. Thus, Fluxhibition #3: Thinking Inside of the Box - Boxes, Cases, Kits and Containers is a combination of these two exhibitions to make one very full and interesting survey of Box Assemblage. Box Assemblage has been a part of Fluxus since its earliest days inspired by both Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Cornell who happen to be heroes to many assemblage and collage artists as well for it seems a good fit to bring these different artists together around the idea of the box and what to do with one.

Boxes and containers in general have been a fascination to many over the course of history and an opportunity for artists to embed artistry into the box design. Human beings always seem to have a lot of stuff and have always needed ways to drag that stuff around and there has always been the need of containers to store stuff in. The history of the container is so far reaching that I don't suppose anyone has ever written a book on the topic or at least I have never seen one. History aside, the boxes in this exhibition are a fasinating cross section of ideas in box assemblage from all over the world - well, except Asia. So far I have not made that many artist friends in the Orient and so the calls for these shows has not seemed to have extended into those networks. But represented in this show are artists from the all over the USA, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Greece, and Germany.

Contributions are still being accepted through June 30 2009. The show will open at The Gallery in the
E.H. Hereford University Center
at the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas for the month of July (1-31) with a little get together on Friday July 10 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. If you plan to attend please call 817-944-4000  or email touchon @ gmail.com for more details.

A catalog will be available once completed. Thank you to all of the wonderful and generous artists whose contributions made this into the amazing show that it is.

Please enjoy the show.
Cecil Touchon

3-Body Problem
Bernd Reichert - Brussels, Belgium
plastic box with plastic fork, black marble, matchbox with with small papers with holes punched in then cover with hole puch reenforcers, the holes are annoted with a number/letter system
On the outside of the box is a printed paper attached that says: PROBLEME DES TROIS CORPS - par des iterations integrales convergentes reelles


Q & A Box -
Janet Jones
San Francisco, California, USA
The viewer supplies both the questions and the answers according to associations suggested by the various objects.

Wood type, metal type cut, wristwatch, antique Chinese coins,
tiny seashells, buffalo horn beads, metal object of unknown use,
possibly a chemists' weight

Mounted in shadow box 6" x 6" x 1.25"



Wag More, Bark Less
Ellen Filreis
Mixed Media Box

kostis Costis - Athens, Greece
Alpha-Lightning-Omega - 1979
Pewter pot with letters  Alpha and Omega attached to the interior of the pot and the lid.
on the bottom  is inscribed the letter Alpha, a symbol of lightning, Omega. Signed 'Costis 1979'
costis










copy of First published collage in the revue Lotos, Athens 1969
Costis - Athens, Greece


Ed Blackburn - Fort Worth
Romeo and Juliet
altered cigar box with ball

Possibilities
Kathryn Uster - Lake Havasu City, AZ

‘Possibilities’ was inspired by watching a short film on Gaudi and his love for the organic. He knew he would not succeed in completion of his dream, but the struggle to work and create inspires and keeps others working on it, still, today. Feelings of being boxed in and compartmentalized can, sometimes, stifle the creative spirit.  Artists will drill away at their own, or society's cubicles. Just as a seedling will find its way to the light, budding from seed, growing around and through barriers, the spirit of possibilities will reach for new heights or directions. 

Tissue Box to Bird House Bleu

By Kate Robinson

Collage both illustrates and communicates my life story and helps me determine where I am, where I have been, and to imagine where I may go.  Disparate images and incongruent juxtapositions require the viewer to “think inside the box.” Collage is a medium that allows for cross-language, cross-cultural and individual interpretation.  With Tissue Box to Bird House Bleu, I honor the ultimate thinker-inside-the-box, Joseph Cornell.  Cornell is known for his box assemblages, his love of nature, nostalgia for childhood and an affinity for shades of blue reminiscent of the star-studded night sky.  This tissue box cover becomes a celestially imagined bird house with treasures Cornell would appreciate: a tin with fabric tucked inside, a jar with blue yarn, blue buttons and beads, a crayon, a muscle shell with a white egg-like stone, and a dragon fly.



Not Another Drop
Stephanie Forsyth - Putney, NSW, Australia
cecil touchon medicine fluxbox
FluxMedicine
for a person who has lost his marbles.

Cecil Touchon
sardine can with antique marbles

lisa caroll box assemblage
Lisa Caroll - Oakland, California


Kelly Gorman - Farnham, Surrey, UK


Tiny Box - Josh Ronson, Austin Texas
 and various artists who contributed tiny works (1x1inch) for the box

jorge artajo - discared brush for George Maciunas

Discarded Brush for George Maciunas
Jorge Artajo
Madrid, Spain


Fluxus Cut-in for Cecil Touchon
Jorge Artajo
Madrid, Spain
Plastic media box with names of fluxus artists and pieces of video tape with numbers collages to them
gary bibb
Share the Air
Gary Bibb

Denver, Colorado USA
gary bibb
Sapphire Box
Gary Bibb

Denver, Colorado USA
allan revich
allan revich

Cigar Box Fluxkit with misc items.
Allan Revich Toronto, Canada
nico vassilakis
Roem Pax #1
35 mm film tube filled with paper items and one color photographic frame
Nico Vassilakis

Babies Neopolitan
Elizabeth K. Bogard -  Dallas, Texas
a clear drinking glass shaped like a female,
<>tiny German made baby dolls painted colors of vanilla and chocolate, Liquitex gloss heavy gel for the whipped cream,
coaster is made from plaster to resemble a dollie, and collaged with bits of paper
cherry is a found object (a knob off something)


Bibiana Maltos Padilla - Mexico

Optical Geometric Game
Dilar Pereira - Lisbon, Portugal
blue box, small colored plastic pieces and letter-press
9x9x2.5 cm

Play Your Destination
Dilar Pereira - Lisbon, Portugal
blue box, map collage, little plasic color pieces and one die
21x17x3.2 CM


Visual Literature
Dilar Pereira - Lisbon, Portugal
Transparent box and printed strips of paper


Blur
John M. Bennett - Columbus, Ohio
Found Objects in an old plasic box



Poetry Kits (3)
John M. Bennett - Columbus, Ohio


Organ F
Ride an Organ, Burn an Organ
Rebecca Cunningham - Brisbane, Australia
Artifacts from a Fluxus Performance in which an organ was completely destroyed and burned. 2006
peter-swann
Holiday Memories No.54
"For Life-Like Snaps"
Peter Swann -  U.K.

"This box is from a series for which the starting point was holiday chalets. These were common on the coast of England during the the 1950's and painted with different bright colours. So these boxes are intended as 'holiday memories'. I would call this particular one simply No.54  as the number on the dice could represent the number of the chalet."
vintage photograph, die, checker,key, button and other found objects in a wooden box with a Kodak film label on the side inscribed: 'reload with Kodak Film for life-like snaps.'
2.75x2.75x1 inches

"Shelf Life - Homage to Hannalore Baron." 2008
Marianne Lettieri
 assemblage with pods on little shelves cover with encuastic in a box frame

Music Box for John Cage - 2009
Jorge Artajo
Madrid, Spain
Box made of card material with a figure playing a lute inside.


Secrets Box (for Yoko Ono)
Jorge Artajo
Madrid, Spain
reed wood

Fluxbox
Reid Wood
Oberlin, Ohio
wooden crate with a box containing objects that make sound when shaken.


   Stone Ellipsis (2) w/ case 
   (may also be used for aposiopesis) 
   Jamie Newton - Portland, Oregon


Lis Gundlach Sell - Denmark


The Geography Lesson
Cecil Touchon - Fort Worth, Texas
Box with geography lessons in Spanish from an antique journal.
contents are various sized balls found on the streets of Mexico City.



Stack Blocks
Cecil Touchon - Fort Worth, Texas

box full of antique English ceramic building blocks
Instruction: Remove blocks from box,
stack blocks into a sculptural form using the box as a base.


Mysterious Fluxobject
Cecil Touchon - Fort Worth, Texas
box with hand carved art object made of wood inscribed '1831' cerca 1830s


La Ronde - 2009
Sam Tan
Malden, MA USA
Wooden box with cut scraps of magazine illustrations the color of skin


Chance Operation
Jorge Artajo

Madrid, Spain



Yoko Ono
Jorge Artajo

Madrid, Spain
handmade postcard


Inside/Out - 2009
Matthew Rose - Paris, France
Wooden box, painted, rubber stamped, with painted water color bottle also rubber stamped and string. 4 cm x 4 cm x 1.5 cm



Art About Art - 1991
Evelyn Eller - New York City , New York
plastic box with collage elements containing a hand made envelope and booklet




Fluxtoybox - 2009 with ephemera
Luc Fierens - Belgium


Vortextus
Gary Bibb -
Denver, Colorado USA
Mixed Media Construction
Neil Horsky

Fluxassignments #43, #58 #65 combined into one (assuming he loves me or I am the boss)
Neil Horsky, Jamaica Plains, MA
Aluminum clip board/box with calculator, collaged with dry trash collected during a day’s time. Neil Horsky  Sept 4 2008


  • Fluxusignment #43 Make a box and send it to a loved one.
  • Fluxusignment #58 -  for an entire work/school day, collect all of your dry trash. That evening, create a collage/assemblage with those articles. The next day, give it to your boos/teacher as a gift, or if you are the boss/teacher, hang it up.
  • Fluxusignment #65 – Collect dry trash from any trip. Create a collage/assemblage with those items on a ground acquired during and/or symbolic of the trip.




Whisper Bag
Jorge Artajo 
Madrid, Spain


Amus-i-Kit - 7 Piece Orchestra in a Box
Judith Stadler
 New York, New York
Fluxus Entertainment - 2008
Cecil Touchon
popcorn container with styrofoam popcorn packing material in a plexiglass vitrine
Abrasion Test - Fluxus Laboratories - 2008
Cecil Touchon
vitrine with an artifact (playing card) from Abrasion Test #1 - a deck of cards were sanded until all of the ink came off.

"This is a Test" print test - Fluxus Laboratories - 2008
vitrine with paper business cards showing front and back of card - stamped and signed limited edition print
"Tear Test - Results Pending" Fluxus Laboratories - 2008
Vitrine with torn bits of wax paper (that was packing material from Fluxus Saint Louis) stamped, signed and dated September 11 2008


Fluxus Laboratories Taste Test Kit #1 - Cecil Touchon - 2008
Pungent/White/Particulated, Pungent/Black/Ground, Pungent/Yellow/Mixed, Tart/Yellow/Squeezed
packets of salt, peper, mustard and lemon juice, serving sample spoons, round box with velveteen lining and tray


Fluxvision glasses - Cecil Touchon - 2008
Vintage glasses with original case with lenses sanded down so that,
when worn the center of one's vision is blinded leaving only peripheral vision.
Instruction: Use to look at an art exhibition


Card Game #1 - Cecil Touchon - 2008
box of chopped up playing cards
Instructions

Players divide card parts from a pile in center of table players arrange their own pile of card parts to reassemble cards
players trade pieces with each other till all cards are reassemble everybody wins when cards are reassembled.


Theater Piece #1 - Cecil Touchon - 2008
Title: Under Tension - a Suspense Thriller!

box filled with rubberbands and a ceramic hand around which are streched rubberbands
facing a round mirror in the lid of the box. Instruction: Watch hand until a rubberband breaks.


Chewed Drawing - Larry Miller 1968
instruction:
Chew a nice piece of drawing or notebook paper.
Performed by Cecil Touchon for Fluxhibition #2 - 2008


Poetry Fluxkit  -  2008
(museum delux version)
Cecil Touchon
vintage box lined with satin conraining a metal jar filled with paste, a brush, a vintage pair of scissors and scraps of paper to make collage poetry with.


Jurassi-fluxkit  -  2008
Cecil Touchon
Case with red alegator skin and interior fold out shelves filled with plastic dinosaurs and implements


Fluxus Poetry Kit - 2008
Cecil Touchon
vintage box with velvet lining covered on the exterior with small sea shells. Inside a set of vintage child flash cards


Fluxscape Kit - 2008
Cecil Touchon - Fort Worth, Texas
wooden box with metal political pins with the name/word: HILL


Artifact from Fluxusignment #58 - 2008 by Neil Horsky as performed by
Allan Revich - Toranto Canada
plexibox filled with ephemera
Roll 13 and Win! Fluxkit
Keith Buchholz
plastic box with printed matter and dice
Fix Piece Fluxkit (for Yoko Ono)
Keith Buchholz
plastic box with printed matter, instructions and sewing kit



FLUXKIT Vol 1 Issue 1
Keith Buchholz
- Fluxus Saint Louis

some of the elements from the fluxkit - Keith Buchholz - Fluxus Saint Louis

Game Fluxkit
Keith Buchholz - Fluxus Saint Louis

'Jack of Fluxus'  - 2007
Norman Sherfield 
4x3 inches - Plastic box with found objects

Posession  - 2009
Liz Yates - U.K.
shadow box assemblage
- 3x3 inches

A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush - 2009
Stephanie Forsyth - Australia
box assemblage

Spectators
Caroline Waite - Louisville, Kentucky
Altered Cigar Box with the lid made into a stage upon it is a plastic barerina figurine surrounded by doll arms, in the background three swanns above them a line of doll eyeballs (stage lights) that open and close. Attached to the top of the stage is an ornate facade the the whole stage lined with gold colored filigree.



The Essence of Life Kit
Michelle N. Ary
wood box, pencil/charcoal sketches done by the artist, piece of distressed wood found on a bench, cancles, turquoise beads, garnet beads, fresh water pearl beads, abalone bead, guage cover, burnt out vacuum tube, vine, three viles, nails, black lentils, bailing wire, handmade paper.

"Can You See What I See?"
Erica James - Houston, Texas
wooden box with printed paper attached to the interior.
2x2x3 inches


Guess
Clint Chadsey - Melrose, Mass.
wooden box with vintage photograph and various found objects including keyboard keys spelling the word: Guess

Behave
Nancy Keeling - Cypress, Texas
Cigar box with found objects some of them spelling the word 'behave' on the lid

Boxed Division 2009
Robert Tucker
Rancho Mirage, California
pocelian-wood-steel

Cage Box – Homage to John Cage
Dilar Pereira  - Lisbon, Portugal
Small black card box with a mirror and a black card inscribed:

 “This Box Contains 4’33” of Silence.”

Kiss the End - 2007
(from the White on White exhibition)
Benoit Piret - Seattle, Washington USA
white paint and collage on video tape box

White Texture - 2007
(from the White on White exhibition)
Litsa Spathi  - Fluxus Heidelberg,
Germany
9x7-1.5 inches - box with acrylic paint, wires

Untitled - 2007
(from the White on White exhibition)
Cordula Kagemann - Bremen, Germany
7x7x1 inches paper assemblage