Artists & Boxesthe art of assemblage

Louise Nevelson

Nevelson collected scraps of wood littering the streets of New York City such as old, busted hunks of wood, old toilet seats, lamps, spindles from stairs and table legs. She built these found objects into a single work of art, a series of panels or boxes. Nevelson's art is abstract and links in with the Abstract Expressionist and Minimalist art movements.

Consider:

Colour

Form & Shape

Composition

‘Humans really are heir to every possibility within themselves, and it is only up to us to admit it and accept it. You see, you can buy the whole world and you are empty,

but when you create the whole world, you are full.’

Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell was not a sculptor, a draftsman, or a painter; he never had any professional training. He was first and foremost a collector. He loved to scour old book shops and second-hand stores looking for souvenirs, theatrical memorabilia, old prints and photographs, music scores, and French literature. His work links to the work of the Surrealists to conjure up feelings of nostalgia and history.

Consider:

Composition

Symbolism

Selection

‘Beauty should be shared for it enhances our joys. To explore its mystery is to venture towards the sublime.’

Susan Hiller

Susan Hiller works using automatic writing, especially wallpaper, postcards and other throwaway aspects of popular culture. Hiller is influenced by Minimalism, Fluxus and aspects of Surrealism. Her art encompasses installation, video, photography, performance and writing; creating conceptual and deeply meaningful pieces of art exploring the subconscious, the supernatural, the surreal, the mystical and the paranormal.

Consider:

Meaning

Organisation

Media

‘My starting points were artless, worthless artefacts and materials - rubbish, discards, fragments, trivia and reproductions - which seem to carry an aura of memory and to hint at meaning something, something that made me want to work with them and on them.’

Michael De Meng

Michael De Meng is a contemporary assemblage artist who bases most of his work on transforming "rubbish" into something which can be appreciated. The assemblages are metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth, from new to old to renewed, from construction to destruction to reconstruction. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever-changing.

Consider:

Texture

Mixed media

Imagery

‘My work is about transformations. It is about the transformation of the common into the sacred. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in my work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning.’

Summary of assemblage artists

Louise Nevelson – discarded objects, single colours, strong forms and compositions, positive/negative shapes, arranged into layers in boxes.

Joseph Cornell – carefully selected objects, story telling and narrative, history and nostalgia, 2D and 3D forms combined.

Susan Hiller – the subconscious and dreamlike combinations, film, photography and sculpture, historical references, repetition and purposeful placement.

Michael De Meng – transformation into sacred, objects made precious, texture and painted, ancient historical references, metallic and colourful, fine and numerous details in 2D and 3D.