Priority Altar Piece
I turned a Priority Mail Box into an altar-piece.
Have you seen in museums the portable altar pieces (16th, 17th century) intended for personal devotion? I was thinking of them when I made this for a Mail Art exhibit in New Jersey. The altar was pasted on the interior of the box. The box itself was empty, except for an LED votive candle I included. When opened for display, the box had plenty of space beneath the icons for offerings or devotional objects.
The box was lined in a thin wood-veneer, and varnished to give the sense of being an old oil painting. Gold-leaf and foil were used to make it glint in low light. Like a traditional altar, there were 3 images: two nude men flanking a nude odalisque, tied to a stake like a martyred Saint. She holds a paper flag that reads “Beloved”.
I made this for a mail-art exhibit in Connecticut. Someone owns it now. Is it you?
Triptych Panels
The Box and how it Opens
(apologies for the poor pictures: I had a deadline to postmark the box, and of course delayed so long I barely time to capture what I’d made! I like it enough to share it with you, even poorly documented.)
