Box #53

Contemporary Art

1966

Lucas Samaras
American, born Greece, 1936

At the beginning of his career, Lucas Samaras—who is often linked with the junk or assemblage artists of the late 1950s and early 1960s—transformed a large number of found and purchased boxes into glittering, fantastic, and often menacing objects. First conceived in 1962, Box #53 belongs to a group of custom-made, yarn-covered boxes that incorporate stuffed birds. When the box is opened, a tape measure audibly calculates the height of the nine-inch opening. Inside are four compartments, one of which features a crystal encrusted rock. Box #53 embodies a number of implied contrasts: nature’s brilliantly hued birds and the man-made, colored yarn; the container’s relatively modest interior and its flamboyant exterior; and the muted rock and noisy measuring device. “I’m never interested in ambiguous response,” the artist said. “Rather a positive negative … touch or not touch, the quality of seducing-repelling.”

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: Lucas Samaras
Title: Box #53
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1966
Medium: Multi-colored yarn, stuffed birds, glass, plastic beads, tape measure, natural crystal, and metal ore
Dimensions: 13 × 15 × 14 in. (33 × 38.1 × 35.6 cm) (closed) 5 × 12 × 9 in. (box itself)
Credit Line: Gift of Fred Mueller
Reference Number: 1971.778

Unknown #53,

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