{"data":{"id":"1150","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1150,"topgoose_id":493,"tms_id":1150,"display_name":"Lucas Samaras","sort_name":"Samaras Lucas","display_date":"1936–2024","begin_date":"1936","end_date":"2024","biography":"\u003cp\u003eSince the late 1950s Lucas Samaras\nhas demonstrated an insatiable desire to\nexperiment. He has produced work\nin traditional mediums such as painting,\ndrawing, sculpture, and photography\nbut has also created book art, reconfigured\nfurniture, and sewn tapestries. His enormous\noutput ranges in scale from three-inch\nPolaroids manipulated by hand to room-\nsized, mirrored installations.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSamaras made the first of his\nnumerous sculptural boxes in 1960. He was\ndrawn to the form because it offered an\nartistic “category of its own” that combines\naspects of painting, sculpture, and\narchitecture. Although he initially constructed\nthese mysterious and compelling objects\nout of found items such as cigar boxes,\nSamaras soon began producing custom\ndesigns with removable components. When\nclosed, the brightly-hued, yarn-covered\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/555\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\nBox #42\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e resembles a sewing kit or storage\ncontainer for treasured items. Once\nopened, it reveals a glittering array of\ncontrasting content: sharp items and soft,\nthe playful alongside the menacing.\nA spiked, pin-covered skull rests on a bed\nof cotton; a toy globe is placed next to\na syringe. Beneath the upper tray Samaras\npropped wooden sticks topped with\ncutout photographs of nude figures. These\ndismembered, eroticized paper dolls\npoke out from a bed of multicolored beads.\nIn addition, the artist’s self-portrait—\na frequent element in his work—appears\naffixed to a dowel. Samaras’s boxes evoke\nreliquaries yet house no overt religious\ncontent. Instead, by acknowledging\nthe danger present in the ordinary and the\npleasure found in the harmful, they reveal\nhis persistent fascination with transforming\neveryday objects. The act of making,\nSamaras has explained, “is a ritual, almost\na religious act.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500021682","wikidata_id":"Q663175","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:42:08.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-26T07:04:57.241-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1150/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1150/exhibitions"}}}}