Little Boxes |
various sizes and substrates
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A marquetry picture of an
allegorical image depicting mans search for anonymity and personal
identity. A parody on the picture, Golconda by Magrite. The title ‘
little boxes’ is taken from a ‘60’s song that commented on the
blandness of society in the developed world.
Little Boxes 2003
Medium: Marquetry using 15 dyed
veneers; Yellow Bolivar, Sunshine yellow Bolivar, Dark green
Bolivar, Light grey Bolivar, Dark blue Bolivar, Lilac birdseye, Dark
green birdseye, Light green birdseye, Light blue birdseye, Dark grey
figured anegre, White ripple anegre, White anegre, Brown koto
Harewood maple, Harewood sycamore.
“ There is a crowd of houses here, different houses, when you think
of an estate, however, you don’t think of an individual house:
accordingly, these houses are all designed the same, as simply as
possible so as to suggest conformity.
The town was once wealthy, a visual feast for the eyes, something
that man could be comfortable in, something to wonder at. I consider
it a wonder that I can walk through the sky on the earth. On the
other hand, the mundainity constitutes no surprise – it is quite
unremarkable living space. The house in the scene is the lowest mean
denominator, it is Mr. Averages anonymous home. Every one appears to
desire one, they have no great desire to stand out from the masses.
In this dream world we can walk the yellow brick road across fields
of wild flowers, toward the setting sun, with heavy heart as we see
our countryside for ever blighted.’
Littleboxes2
Illustrated image 600h x 600w x
25d
Rene Magritte 1898 – 1967
“ Magrite was primarily a painter of ideas, a painter of visible
thoughts, rather than of subjects. He valued neither lyrical nor
expressionist abstraction. …..he preferred chess to painting……
Magrite’s most frequent concern in selecting his motifs is in the
inversion or fusing of interior and exterior views, or of opposites
or extreme positions, to put it in more general terms.
'perspicacity' 1936
In his own words, Magrite lived
“like everything else” in the mystery of the world. Instead of
seeking a more or less new or original manner of painting’ or
inventing new techniques, he preferred to get to the bottom of
things, to use painting as an instrument of thinking and
philosophical wisdom, as a means of recognition inseparably bound up
with mystery, with the inexplicable.”
Golconda 1953
Golconda 1953
“ There is a crowd of men here,
different men. When you think of a crowd, however, you don’t think
of an individual ; accordingly, these men are all dressed alike, as
simply as possible, so as to suggest a crowd……Golconda was a wealthy
Indian city, something like a wonder. I consider it a wonder that I
can walk through the sky on the earth. On the other hand, the bowler
hat constitutes no surprise – it is a quite unoriginal article of
headgear. The man in the bowler hat is Mr Average in his anonymity.
I, too, wear one ; I have no great desire to stand out from the
masses “
Rene Magrite
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