The cardboard box is such a humble object that it's hardly worth acknowledging. You store stuff in the box, it serves its purpose, and it ends up disintegrating out in the rain somewhere. Artists Jeff McMillan and Richard Haden have both found inspiration in the degraded form, and each in his separate way forces us to look at cardboard boxes in a new light. McMillan resurfaces his by dipping them in acrylic and oil paints. The flaps are painted a contrasting color and the boxes, mounted with flaps open, become pop objects, imbued with new identity. Haden sculpts boxes out of wood with all the loving attention to detail given to a marble Aphrodite. While McMillan paints his boxes to transform them into art, Haden paints his sculptures to give them the illusion of cardboard boxes. At this paired exhibit, both artists show other work — McMillan also dips paintings he finds at thrift stores — but for sheer elevation of the ordinary, it's hard to beat the cardboard box.
