John Chamberlain American, 1927-2011
Sliced Aluminum, 1992
Mailbox, paint
26 3/4 x 12 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches
Signed on mailbox door
Sold
This mailbox is exemplary of Chamberlain’s fascination with the atypical medium. It was created on the occasion of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution benefit, Mailbox Auction, November 19,...
This mailbox is exemplary of Chamberlain’s fascination with the atypical medium. It was created on the occasion of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution benefit, Mailbox Auction,
November 19, 1992, lot 26. wherein artists were prompted to transform a simple mailbox into a complex work of art. In which many notable artists participated, such as Jenny Holzer, Al Loving, John Baldessari, Jules Olitski, Yoko Ono, Sam Gilliam, and Louise Bourgeois. True to form, Chamberlain deconstructed the object and sliced the aluminum, emphasizing how each strip fits into the composition while simultaneously deviating from it. The original purchaser’s Archives of American Art Mailbox Auction Catalogue, bill of sale and correspondence is included with the sculpture.
Born in a small town in Indiana in 1927, John Chamberlain became one of the most celebrated
abstract expressionist sculptors of the 20th century. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World
War II, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later studied at Black Mountain College in
Asheville, North Carolina. He led a nomadic lifestyle, residing and working in cities across
America from Sarasota to Santa Fe, even spending some time in Belgium.
Chamberlain worked with a vast array of media throughout his career, experimenting with
unconventional materials like aluminum foil, cardboard, urethane foam, and his signature
substance: recycled automobile parts. There were periods of time when he did not utilize any
metals within his work at all, committing to push himself out of the realm of expectation. A
common theme throughout Chamberlain’s works is the fascination with “fit” - he believed that as
long as scale was proportional, size was irrelevant; he often collected objects that would be
compared and then morphed together if the fit was correct.
This mailbox is exemplary of Chamberlain’s fascination with the atypical medium. It was
created in 1992 for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution benefit, “Mailbox
Auction,” wherein artists were prompted to transform a simple mailbox into a complex work of
art. True to form, Chamberlain deconstructed the object and sliced the aluminum, emphasizing
how each strip fits into the composition while simultaneously deviating from it.
November 19, 1992, lot 26. wherein artists were prompted to transform a simple mailbox into a complex work of art. In which many notable artists participated, such as Jenny Holzer, Al Loving, John Baldessari, Jules Olitski, Yoko Ono, Sam Gilliam, and Louise Bourgeois. True to form, Chamberlain deconstructed the object and sliced the aluminum, emphasizing how each strip fits into the composition while simultaneously deviating from it. The original purchaser’s Archives of American Art Mailbox Auction Catalogue, bill of sale and correspondence is included with the sculpture.
Born in a small town in Indiana in 1927, John Chamberlain became one of the most celebrated
abstract expressionist sculptors of the 20th century. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World
War II, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and later studied at Black Mountain College in
Asheville, North Carolina. He led a nomadic lifestyle, residing and working in cities across
America from Sarasota to Santa Fe, even spending some time in Belgium.
Chamberlain worked with a vast array of media throughout his career, experimenting with
unconventional materials like aluminum foil, cardboard, urethane foam, and his signature
substance: recycled automobile parts. There were periods of time when he did not utilize any
metals within his work at all, committing to push himself out of the realm of expectation. A
common theme throughout Chamberlain’s works is the fascination with “fit” - he believed that as
long as scale was proportional, size was irrelevant; he often collected objects that would be
compared and then morphed together if the fit was correct.
This mailbox is exemplary of Chamberlain’s fascination with the atypical medium. It was
created in 1992 for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution benefit, “Mailbox
Auction,” wherein artists were prompted to transform a simple mailbox into a complex work of
art. True to form, Chamberlain deconstructed the object and sliced the aluminum, emphasizing
how each strip fits into the composition while simultaneously deviating from it.