On the occasion of our 25th anniversary, the Scene asked 25 of our favorite local artists, painters, designers and printmakers to art up our newspaper boxes and turn them into something uniquely Nashville. Every Monday and Wednesday on Country Life, we'll be highlighting a specific artbox and give you a little insight into each artist's creative practice.
Today's artist is Clara Andrews, whose artbox is dispensing papers (and gobbling up delicious breakfast pastries) at its new location, Biscuit House. Look through some other examples of Rice's work after the jump.
• What was the inspiration behind your box design?
When I'm beginning a project, my brain usually defaults to ghosts and surreal, disproportionate characters. As soon as I saw the box, I saw the "aggressive" face in my mind. I liked the idea of the box having a face on either side — one representing aggression and one representing passivity. My fiancé suggested making the two beings clash on the back of the box — the serene character holding up a hand that stops the aggressive character's fist. "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
Even though they both have halos and horns, the piece is not about "good vs. evil"; instead I wanted to illustrate the concept that no one is purely good or purely bad, purely right or purely wrong. Everyone has multiple sides within them, and these inherent natures are the core cause of misunderstanding and human conflict.
The yellow-and-black color scheme was inspired by caution tape and street signs: in other words, city decoration.
• What materials did you use?
Spray paint, oil-based paint pens, and a bit of nail polish.
• When you're not making Nashville Scene newspaper boxes, what kind of art do you make?
I love graffiti and urban art, surrealism, cartoons, lowbrow, anime, video games, Japan, monsters, ghosts and fashion. I'm most comfortable with traditional illustration using India ink, ballpoint pens and mechanical pencils, but I'm also pretty wild about digital illustration and vector illustrations.
