untitled (PAINTED BOX SETS), 2014
This work is a standard photographic/film industry ‘apple crate’ set (full, half, quarter, eighth) I think they are also used by movers in the UK, who call them ‘breakers’ or ‘brakes.’ The boxes are used for almost anything on set requiring something to be off the ground, but are most relevant in this situation in their use as a height enhancer. If Tom Cruise had publicity shots taken with Nicole Kidman, chances are they would have used an apple crate to make Cruise taller. Same with Bogart and Bacall, or Bruce Springsteen with Clarence Clemons (saxophonist). In all these cases, the reason the boxes are used is because of the basic, perhaps primordial hierarchy expressed by height in image-making. This betrays a concern that the men in those images would lose some power if they are portrayed as shorter than the other person. In this artwork, the crates are spray painted to separate the sets, and to heighten the totemic aspect of the form. They are painted on one side only, giving them a ‘face.’ They were used as supports while painting each other. The colours are mostly taken from the small icon Google uses on their <<waiting for something to happen>> icon. usually, you see two sets of colours, so there’s usually an easy to identify contrast. Standard spray paint colours are used to approximate the google colours, with small variations, like one would get from monitor to monitor.
