Fluxus Box

Materials: Palette Wood, Balsa Wood, Red Wax, Multiple Inks, Paper, Metal Wire, Metal Straight Pins, Glass Bottles, Painted Tissue Paper, Miniature Skull, Paint, Wood Glue, Hot Glue

Measurements: 17.5" x 12" x 9.5"

When given this project, I knew immediately I wanted to create my box around the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. To create the box itself, I used very old, broken palette wood painted violet-black to make a shipping crate. The top was made by weaving old rope I found through the side handles so that in order to reach in to grab an object, I would have to reach my hand through the rope.

The letter saying “It’s just good business” represents the way Captain Beckett communicated with his crew and enemies. This quote from him was painted on with black ink onto an ink-stained piece of paper. I ripped the edges and crumpled it multiple times to give it an older and worn look.

The coin with blood represented the way the pirates would spend their lives chasing riches or unimportant things (like wooden coins) that would eventually cost them their lives. Was it worth it? The coin was hand carved out of balsa wood and then stained with a brown ink wash. The blood was dripped onto the coin with red sealing wax.

The mini paper ship in the bottle was to represent the obsession with The Black Pearl Captain Jack Sparrow had. To him, the entire ship was marvelous, but to others at times it was a broken down, dinky boat. The “ship” was made of paper to show what it looked like to everyone else, and the “water” inside was made from wood glue dyed with brown ink to show Captain Jack’s constant need for Rum and his drowning in it.

The sword represented the amount of fights the characters found themselves in throughout the series. It was made from carved balsa wood and painted with silver paint and brown ink. The pieces were assembled with metal straight pins.

The triton was created to represent the triton Captain Barbosa and others were chasing during the fifth movie. This was created using tightly-wrapped wire to make the handle and hot glue painted silver to create the three prongs.

The larger glass bottle with orange and yellow inside was to represent the scene where Elizabeth and Jack are stranded on the deserted island. In this scene, Elizabeth lights all of the alcohol on fire to create enough smoke to alert nearby ships. Jack did not know of this plan and was immediately angered when finding out the Rum was used and no longer able to be consumed. To create this, I sanded down an old Grey Goose bottle to remove any logos and printing and stuffed the inside with tissue paper I painted yellow and orange to represent the fire burning the alcohol.

The paper rib cage was created to represent Davy Jones’ empty torso. Since his heart is locked away in a box, I created a representational rib cage from paper and ink to show the dark depths of the inside of him.

The purple skull was created to represent the juxtaposition of telling “tales.” Since the last movie’s title is Dead Men Tell No Tales, I decided to represent this by using a plastic skull I found and molding mine after one. I filled it with hot glue to add weight, and then dripped lavender paint over top of it and let it spill over the black wooden stand I placed it on. The lavender paint was the juxtapose the idea of tales. Normally a fairytale is happy and bright with a positive ending, but in these movies, the endings are much more dark and complicated. I used lavender paint over top of the skull to juxtapose the happiness we expect out of tales with the dark reality of these movies being nothing near happy.

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