Horned God Orifice Box

Months ago I showed you some images of my Horned God Orifice Box (yes, I’ve still not come up with a snappier title for it yet) whilst it was under construction and even though I finished it soon after I forgot to post any images of it in its finished state. So here it is, along with a few related sketches.

Here it is sitting on one of the work benches in my studio. The Horned God part of its title comes from the branches coming out of either side of it. And the Orifice bit – well that’s probably quite obvious.

This small drawing from my pocket sketchbook was made early on when I first thought about starting the Orifice Box series. Unlike the Horned God and Frankenstein’s Orifice Boxes this is to be left plain except for an external drawing decoration. I have yet to start this one though.

In this image you can see that, in-keeping with my love of using found materials, I have used the backboards from some old paintings. They came from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and you can clearly see one of the original labels and some of the remnants of gum tape. Although you can’t see it from the two photos, the inside of the Horned God Orifice Box is lined with a collage of bits of early 20th Century newspaper and over-drawn in a similar style to the external pattern on the small drawing above.

One thing that I want to get back into the habit of doing is the quick-fire drawing sessions that I used to do every night before I went to bed. I particularly enjoy the very fast sketches that only take a few seconds to execute. What you loose in accuracy you tend to gain in vibrancy. This one was made after I’d started the new series of Orifice Box sculptures and is a kind of cross between them and my earlier wall-mounted Orifice sculpture.

The Second Orifice

Here’s some ‘work in progress’ photos of the second piece in my new Orifice Box series. The working title for this one is Horned God Orifice Box (a bit of a mouthful and not that catchy, I admit) because of the branches that grow out of the sides of the box – which remind me a little bit of horns. I know that the box is a little on the small side for anything with deity status but maybe the Horned God doesn’t have that much in the way of worshippers these days. I’ve still not yet decided what the interior of the box will line with. I’m toying with the idea of either hair or very old news print, with drawings over the top. I had thought about having the interior mirrored but I’m not sure if that would add much to the piece. I also have to add the trademark casters.
I think that this new series of work has started to influence my ongoing quick-fire drawing project, as a few of sketches have come out remarkably boxy. I’ll upload them soon so that you can see what I mean. Which reminds me – I must get round to scanning and uploading the next batch of doodles as they are starting to mount up.