Arthur Bruso

Box Constructions

As a child growing up in Albany, New York, I spent many afternoons exploring the tenebrous and beguiling corners of the New York State Museum and The Albany Institute of History and Art. I had an insatiable curiosity for the world and was searching for information and experiences that would answer my questions. I had already exhausted my parent’s store of facts and I was turning to books. The museums offered visual, immediate evidence of what I was reading about and often provided further subjects to explore. These museums were full of glass fronted displays depicting imagined Cambrian seas, dusty rocks that glowed under black light, creepy fungi fashioned from wax and even an Egyptian mummy, blackened with time. They held creaking wooden floors that led to obscure corners where a mystery could be found or solved. I eventually knew the floorplan and contents of each exhibit by heart, but my excitement of discovery never waned.

My boxes come from this place of Cabinets of Curiosity and 19th century natural history and archeological display. They are intended to evoke mystery and as well as provide enlightenment. They are not so much about adoring the specific object as they are about transforming the individual objects into a cohesive whole.