Ox's and O's

_Artifact and Art Box containing Ox and O's - ©evertson09

_Ox and O's with the Artifact and Art stamps

©evertson09

_While working through various carvings of my Hand ᔓtamps I knew I wanted to use them as more than a chop or addition to the mail art I exchange with other artists. I used the tic tac graphic to frame some of the designs and this brought to mind using the hands and their carved symbols in a game.

Starting to wrap the binder board frame with book cloth.

This is the construction of the Artifact and Art Box. The box contains my "game" of Ox and O's. The piece measures 4.5 x 11 x 1.5 inches and contains two stamps as well as other art and "game" material.

Box taking shape with an interior drawing

and a formed copper mesh cradle for each hand.

Cover and ox pen drawing. Box interior showing

Hand ᔓtamps, Samsara collage and pull string

for interior compartment.

Raised lettering on cover is created by stretching the

book cloth over hardened glue.

Tic tac toe is a simple child's game that many have played for ages. Using an X or O as a mark, the players take turns trying to achieve a win by making three marks in a row. As children we sometimes develop strategies that enable us to win; until our opponent catches on. The best play ends in a draw. Simple games such as these are combinational games and the simplicity of the rules lead to predictable choices.

Glueing the interior cover drawing

The box contains two of my stamps: A carving of a hand holding a brush; my symbol of art or artist and the carved word Artifact. The game play, of course, is incidental to a speculation on the nature of our work as artists and by extension our production. A constant play occurs between our works as artists in the marketplace versus our role as conveyers of status, information or insight, and who receives it and how access is distributed or obtained.

Inking the game grids

Even art that attempts to negate the status quo of the fashionable leaves behind relics or artifacts that themselves become collectable.

Ox and O's blank grids - "Instruction Sheet" in center

The center interior picture in the box is the collage I made using Ria Vanden Eynde's "Samsara" drawing of a hand grasping toward a ball (pictured in the previous post) as a starting point. Her note to me: "Samsara: because of our continuous grabbing/ reaching for/ holding on to (what we think) will make us happy, we suffer."

Finished box showing interior artwork and Hand ᔓtamps