Tea Chests

Most smaller art galleries don’t have many – or any – plinths for displaying 3D work. This is understandable as most artwork is 2D and can be hung on the wall. So, as well as costing a lot in the first place, a big collection of plinths would need to be stored when not in use and smaller galleries don’t have the space. So I was trying to think of an alternative to purpose-made plinths and I came up with the idea of tea chests; remember those? Now I don’t know if tea is still shipped in plywood boxes or not but you definitely don’t see so many about as you used to. Back in the day they were commonly used when moving house or to create a homemade double bass for a skiffle band. I posted on the local Facebook marketplace requesting “Any old tea chests?” and got a pretty good response, mostly from people who had used them to move house thirty years ago and still had them cluttering up their attics and garages. I wasnt sure how they would look but it turns out that there’s something about the contrasting colour and texture and maybe the fact that they are also a recycled object that complements my robots quite nicely.