MEGHAN ANCHUKAITIS

I feel the grass and twigs crunch under the weight of my feelings as I walk through the woods. Each direction is starting to look the same. I’m lost. I am oddly calm as I continue on my path, walking past the tall trees, there…I spot something. What could it be? Spots of orange, pink, yellow, blue peek through the heavy forest. Intrigued, I walked towards it. As I continue to move towards it, its real form started to take shape. Its a box? What is a box doing out here? Walking around it I discovered its opening covered by vines. Moving my hands to pull them back I am absolutely shocked by what I see. Space. Nothing but pitch-black, illuminated by billions of tiny stars. Without realizing what I was doing I sat in the box. I’m floating…there’s no floor! No walls either! As I float still with the void I felt as though something has brought me here. More lights begin to appear, white, purple, pink, green. I can’t see anymore. The lights and colors are blinding to the eyes. Eyes closed I’m startled by a voice. A calm feminine voice makes itself known to me. “Where would you like to go?” Confused and still shocked by what is happening I respond, “Why, I don’t know…where am I able to go?” The voice lets out a small chuckle, “Why you can go anywhere my friend!” I smile, relieved by that answer. The voice slowly starts to fade as I peer through the vines to look at the dense forest one last time. The box. The forest is now empty. the wind brushing by the trees is the only sound that slips through thick silence left behind.

For this project I decided to work on a 3d painting. I painted two boxes one large and the other smaller in size. They are both painted in a psychedelic style with bright and rich colors and strange imagery. I tend to work with that style because I have always loved working with bright fun colors. Being able to draw what comes to my mind is an incredible feeling. To make this project come to life I gessoed over two cardboard boxes and used acrylic paints to create wild and fun images on each side. I started by painting the inside of the larger box and adding LED lights and broken cds to the inside as well. I used bright and rich colors on the outer paintings, and added vines to the top of the opening of the larger box, acting as a curtain. Lastly, placed on top of the large box was more vines and the smaller brightly colored painted box. I decided to take this project on because it was out of my comfort zone. I have never painted a box before or anything that wasn’t 2d canvas so this was a new territory. To paint it and use only my imagination to fill up the blank sides was a fun type of struggle. My goal was to make a box that could take you anywhere your imagination would let you go and I know that is what I have here.

The Box, acrylic paint and cardboard, 27.5”x 42.5”