Covered box c. 1925

This covered box, by an artist named Roundhead, is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I see that textured surface and I immediately think of those moments in the studio when you’re just building up a surface, adding layer upon layer, and each tap of the hammer, each little pit, becomes part of the whole. What did Roundhead want to keep inside? What ideas, hopes, or dreams? I love how the simple geometric shapes make up the whole structure, those triangles meeting to form a kind of sturdy elegance. It reminds me of some of the work by early modernists, those artists who were also playing with geometry and trying to find new forms to express themselves, who were also trying to get at some truth about the world and what they felt it should be. Roundhead’s box resonates with a similar search, echoing across time.