“Glory Box”
Matthew Perkins
29 Oct → 20 Nov 2010

Glory Box featured two boxes containing plasma screens installed on the floor. The screens depict an image of an upper body (that of the artist) whose breathing is constrained within a lidless box. Over time the torso is gradually wrapped with slices of soft, skin-coloured clay. White or black paint is then applied to the clay wrapped surface of the body. The treatment of the body in this way evokes a sense of the body as a surface – a visual or cultural canvas. Throughout the duration of the video piece, coloured liquid is gradually poured into the box and the body disappears, sinking beneath the surface of the fluid.

Matthew Perkins is an artist and curator predominantly focused on performance and video art. He has recently exhibited in Testing Ground, Melbourne (2009), Figuratively Speaking: The Figure in Contemporary Video Art, Brisbane (2007), Stranger Geography, Italy (2007) and Skin Alive, Canberra, Melbourne (2007).