Lucas Samaras: Boxes is the definitive exploration of the artist’s iconic, mixed media series, a total of 295 artworks begun in the early 1960s. Samaras’s boxes delve into the subject of the self, allowing viewers access into the artist’s mind through personal and found objects or manipulated self-portraits, which are sometimes guarded by pins, razor blades, or broken glass. In addition, many works are distortions of the form of the box itself, with playful multi-colored appendages or constructions made entirely of chicken wire. Also included are related room-sized installations, such as the artist’s celebrated Mirrored Room (1966).

Lucas Samaras: Boxes contains vivid color photography of artworks, with images of both the open and closed states of boxes, and provides an extensive collection of primary source documents such as the artist’s note cards, notebooks, and drawings, plus archival photography from important exhibitions from the 1960s and 1970s. The catalogue also features an exclusive series of videos displaying the moving components of boxes in the round, which further illustrate the artworks' complexity and ingenuity.

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