25-05-2022
Jonathan Saiz: Reimagining AMAC Boxes as a Canvas for Creativity
Thinking Inside the Box: Artists Using AMAC Boxes for Creative Expression
Jonathan Saiz is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Denver, Colorado. He honed his artistic skills at Parsons School of Design in NYC and Paris, and at the Maryland Institute College of Art. After schooling and extensive travels, Jonathan returned to the Mile-High City to settle down with his partner and his dog, Oscar, the otherworldly affenpinscher who transcends canine classification (less dog, more demigod). Here, he (Jon, not Oscar) continues his pursuit of creativity, integrating his artistic abilities and personal vision into his work.
What was your first introduction to AMAC boxes?
I was heading to the South of France in 2015 for my honeymoon and packing my art kit. I needed to find some sort of container that would allow me to bring small amounts of oil paint. I remember going to a container store and seeing these 2”x 2” boxes, and I bought them from a utilitarian standpoint. Initially, I thought they were beautiful and charming, and I filled them with oil paint. At that point, because I was enamored with them, I bought 30 or 40 extra and took them with me to France, and that was when I started using them in my artwork.
The integration from practical use to the creative form, can you speak to that a bit?
I've always had a Lego building block sensibility to my creativity. I love cubic forms, and I love sharp lines. I guess you could say I like the boldness of brutalist geometry; I’m attracted to its crisp design. When I started to place precious items in the boxes, they became a frame for my artwork, allowing me to work on a much smaller scale.
One of the problems with working on this scale is that you really have to find some sort of context for the piece to exist. It could be a teeny tiny token, but what if you combined the tokens and turned them into substantial pieces of artwork? I started showing the integrated cubes to people, and the demand for this combination, my work in these boxes, became something I was known for.
At the time, it was one of those situations where you don't realize that you're stumbling onto a very specific and identifiable brand for yourself. I mean, I didn't know ten years later, I'd be using these pieces the way I still am.
You went from creating singular
2"x 2" pieces to large-scale installations. What is your most extensive project to date?
My largest piece was the installation at the Denver Museum of Art, #WhatisUtopia. I created a giant circular column made with 10,000 individual pieces. And the cool thing about this project was the idea that these individual artworks came together to make up a whole. I love how the cases themselves are art, but they also have this powerful ability to be something bigger. It's really nice that they can be separated that way, unlike other types of artwork.
Right. Right. That's really cool. And I learned that at the end of this exhibit, you gave the artwork away. Can you tell me about that?
I was questioning what would our collective philosophy be if, let's say if, money wasn't attached to art. And I was playing around with the idea of giving away the artwork. So, we created an Instagram post attached to the exhibit, and people could sign up for a mailing list, which would tell them when the giveaways would be. During the two days of giveaways, thousands of people showed up. It was wild, and it was one of the coolest experiences of my career. And here’s what I did: I took each token down from the exhibit, placed it in a little cookie wrapper, and then met and gave everyone who came through a numbered and signed piece of art. I love the democratization of art, and that this type of small piece allows me to play with that concept. I can't do that with large oil canvases and large sculptures. So, for me, it's not even so much about the content of the art; it's about the way that the art makes us slow down, look more closely at the details and the handy work of human creativity, and feel that we can be part of its ownership. It inspires people to want it but also to want to protect it, which is an overarching human goal beyond just pretty colors and painted imagery.
What inspires you as an artist?
It continues to evolve, but what inspired me with this particular approach to art, with this specific medium, is how people are often separated from artwork; they think of it as some sort of luxury item that's beyond their reach. I love how these boxes, which in a way are tokens of humanity, of creativity, of charm, how people form a very intimate reaction with them; in that way, they can connect with art.
What inspires you about the AMAC boxes?
So it's the fact that they're so appealing because they're glossy and perfect. Still, they're also really intriguing because of the way that I use them anyway by coating the outsides, coating the insides, filling them in different ways, and the way that I'm able to go back and forth between the glossy and matte, which is surprising for something so small. You know, people think of the size as not having that much opportunity to explore and I'm always surprised, and they're always surprised when I show them what you can really do within a two-inch cubic form. I also want to add one more thought, the boxes have always held for me, a fascination with, and this may come across as really superficial, but there’s a kind of sparkle, you know, the way that light glitters on the objects within each box. I love working with these products because when they're installed en masse, the way the light hits all of them like in a mosaic, it's very dynamic and the work has a lot of movement to it. I think that from an aesthetic standpoint, this is one thing that I'm super interested in.
Final Thoughts
We thank Jonathan Saiz for sharing his time and thoughts about using the AMAC containers in his artwork. His big energy is infectious, and his willingness to share his passion for art on so many levels is inspiring. You can follow Jonathan on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.saiz/
Written by Kara K. La Lomia