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A DOCUMENTARY FILM, AUCTION AT BOX SHOW
By Andrew Pridgen
Point
Reyes Light, September 4, 2003
Even
by the standards (or lack of them, as curmudgeons complain), the
Box Show --- now finishing its run as a fundraiser for Gallery
Route One in Point Reyes Stations --- is unexpected. The exhibit
consists of 150 boxes that a like number of artists have turned
into whimsical cubes. Each box is a perfect seven-by-seven-inches,
although sizes have changed through the years. Last year each
creation was shoebox size. The final bidding in a silent auction
is supposed to be the highlight of the month-long fundraiser for
the cooperative gallery. This year, however, the auction may be
overshadowed by the premiere of a documentary film, The Box
Show, directed by San Francisco filmmaker, Victoria Lewis.
Documentary
film about show
Lewis was so surprised by the concept of the show that she spent
more than a year capturing different artists in the process of
turning a simple, pine box into a miniature masterpiece. Just
before the auction ends Sunday, Lewis will show a rough cut of
her 25-minute short. The filmmaker previously made a PBS documentary
about the Romanov family with Inverness resident Andrew Romanov,
grandnephew of the last Tsar of Russia, Coincidentally, artist
Romanov's box Farmer Joe was getting bids above $200
this week.
The
origin of box shows
The brainchild of Inverness resident Nick Corcoran five years
ago, the first Box Show was intended to be merely a one-time fundraiser.
Why a box show? "We were thinking of something more substantial
than an arty-type garage sale," Corcoran replied. "Someone
gave me a light fixture with 55 empty slots, and I thought it’d
be nice if a different artist filled each slot," Corcoran
said. "We raffled it off, but then we started thinking about
expanding the idea a little bit. For some reason, I started building
boxes." Corcoran admitted that after building 150 boxes that
first year, he swore off box shows forever. But the show's instant
popularity, and the fact that it "pretty much raised enough
money to keep the gallery in business for another year,"
kept Corcoran, and the artists, coming back. Now there's a waiting
list of more than 50 artists to be in next year's show, with a
lottery to help select them. |
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Artist Nick
Corcoran - thought the Box Show up.
(light photo by Andrew Pridgen) |
Exactly
150 artistic boxes
Each year Corcoran builds exactly 150 boxes, all of them the same size.
A box-show bidder cooed over Corcoran’s own entry, a giant rear-view
mirror and pair of fuzzy dice called: Looking Back. After learning
that Corcoran not only was one of the artists but also built the boxes,
the bidder asked how long the carpentry took him. Corcoran simply smiled
and started counting invisible numbers with his fingers. "It's
a kind of Zen thing," he said. "You sort of get in this box-building
zone. But I won't lie, it does take awhile." Judging from the many
bids of $300 or more as of Monday, this year's box size and the artist's
work are both attracting more buyers than the past. "You don’t
want to say that one year is better than the other," Corcoran said,
"but there are no duds here. What people come up with each year
is amazing. We're surprised every year at how personal and professional
the pieces are."
Vietnam
War Memorial
Particularly personal to Corcoran is his nephew Keith Corcoran's box
titled Touching a Hero, which shows a plaster hand touching
a name on a replica of the Vietnam Memorial. The name on the artist's
memorial is Edward Corcoran, Nick Corcoran's brother who died in the
war. "When Keith visited the wall he said that's how he felt, like
someone was touching back," Corcoran said. It's the personal pieces
that make the show so special," Bolinas artist and Gallery Route
One volunteer Vickisa Feinberg told The Light. "Everyone
in this community holds this show dear," she said, "so it's
no surprise that people from other places are inspired by what they
see.” Artist Feinberg, who has seen clips of The Box Show,
said, "It's like the show in a way. Of course, I think everything
in it is really good because I'm so involved. Then I talk to other people
about it. And they seem to be equally amazed."
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