A box is not a box: Sebastian ErraZuriz on show in New York

“Breaking the Box” aptly titles Chilean-born New Yorker Sebastian ErraZuriz’s first solo show with R & Company. The upper level of the NYC gallery’s 64 White Street location is a showcase of often unassuming wooden boxes that beg to be explored. A wall-mounted cabinet reveals fan-like wings as it is pulled open, exposing entryways from top and front, while a floor-standing piece unveils multiple stepped storage units when it expands into an oblong, rounded shape.

ErraZuriz, not one to conform to accustomed everyday realities, has redefined the limits of accepted truths and given us new ways to view functional sculpture by creating wooden cabinets and credenzas that are mesmerising both in their transformative nature and in their impecable carpentry and technical mastery.

“In ‘Breaking the Box’, I use art, design and craft to break open our relationship to objects, function, beauty and time in order to reconsider conventions,” he explains. A crystal chandelier, designed by the artist to fit within the gallery’s 40-foot three-storey atrium, talks to this point.

As if freezing a moment in time, 100 taxidermy birds are perched within the glittering light, some appearing to be flying in and out. For ErraZuriz, it’s a comment on life and death, a theme that works alongside his concern for the fragility of time and the impulse to think intuitively and freely.

This is an exhibition of experimentation and surprise, where new shapes emerge from everyday forms. It will leave the visitor questioning every future boring box they see.