Painted Boxes

'These painted boxes are a variation on the theme of Solander boxes, which are widely used in museums the world over, for storing and archiving collection materials.
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These book-form boxes were invented by the 18th century Swedish botanist Daniel Solander for the purpose of collecting and storing specimens of flora and fauna He, along with English botanist Joseph Banks, were a part of the expedition commanded by James Cook that sailed for Tahiti and Polynesia in 1769.'

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'The wooden boxes I have painted, were found in a skip, discarded by the museum I was working for, having originally been used to store photographic negatives.
My intention was to relate them back to the original use of Solander boxes by decorating the outside with butterfly motifs. The decorations are not of particular butterflies. They are invented and more archetypal/architectural in kind.
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Use of the wood grain informs the pattern, structure and camouflage of the insects wings and the boxes are intentionally ‘worn‘ to evoke a sense of history and transience.
As such they are a sort of a homage to that Romantic period of exploration and to my own childhood explorer/naturalist self.'

For more information contact Michael