Continuing my exploration of pointed juxtapositions, the Empty Box series plays with one’s perception of “empty” versus “full”. Here I engrave the text of well-known literature onto the interior surfaces of vintage, wood boxes. The selected literary works are informed by the original cargo once held within each box, establishing a link between the selected text and the box’s previous life (e.g. a box once used to ship Remington ammunition engraved with the Art of War, Sun Tzu’s 1400 year old treatise on military strategy and tactics). The original advertising on each box’s exterior effortlessly draws the eye in.
At a glance, the box appears void of any content. However, upon closer inspection, the viewer discovers words densely populating the box’s internal surfaces. Now fully captivated, the viewer’s curiosity naturally motivates him/her to decipher the text and draw conclusions between it and the container that bears it. Empty Box’s deceptively humble presentation challenges viewers to journey between the layers of the piece, connecting the visual and conceptual clues in order to appreciate the work in its entirety.
