Why?

As I've described and shown this project to people, the question arises why crush art into cubes? What is the significance of this action. For someone who has read this blog so far I think I've described it from a largely technical point of view, but I know there is more meaning and purpose lying beneath the crumpled veneer of the art cube. I like to say "there are five or ten artworks crushed into a single cube, thus making a more valuable art object and increasing the art-value density of it. " Is this really true? The statement points to the notion that art is a special quality given to an object by the artist creator, and that special property somehow continues to exist even if the object has been damaged or crushed or whatever. What is the art-value of objects people throw out? Does the artist or owner have the power to remove the artistic value from an object simply by placing it in a dumpster or the curbside? Or once an object is art, is it always art as long as it continues to exist? how is that object changed by being included in another artwork and combined with other artworks?

The art cube asks these questions and posits some possible answers. Searching through the trash of art schools and soliciting unwanted artworks from people, I have found that other people are always questioning the notion of special art-value. In some cases the owner of a piece has felt liberated by the opportunity to shed their unwanted art; as though it's special art-value has prevented them from throwing it out, yet when they hear there is an opportunity for it to be included in an ongoing art-making project they see the opportunity to get rid of something that is both precious and unwanted. When creating the cubes, I feel compelled to include some remainder of each pieces essential and unique art properties. A beautiful brush stroke, a colorful section of glaze, some compelling detail of a photograph - I seek to reveal the strengths f my component artworks and not leave them utterly destroyed and unrecognizable. In this way the art cube retains some of the essential art-value of each of the minor peices included in it. As an artist I sought to challenge the limits of sacred art-value, but have thus far found that there are limits to challenging - that I do find special, perhaps even sacred art-value in the most mundane piece of art school trash.