PRIZE WINNER – This is "The Box," which won first prize in Church World Service art exhibit at General Assembly meeting of National Council Churches in San Francisco. It topped 36 entries.
SAN FRANCISCO – “The Box” is made of a curious collection of “meaningless junk,” including bits of nylon stockings, old boards, tin cans and wax, according to Lynda McNeur, a San Francisco artist.
Done by Bruce Conner also of San Francisco, it won first prize among 36 entries in the Church World Service art exhibit at the General Assembly meeting of the National Council of Churches.
Mrs. McNeur visualizes the winning entry as “a powerfully dynamic and existential statement regarding human tragedy. His statement assumes all the proportions of the macabre when we recognize the decaying remains of a child cramped into the box, surrounded by all the inconsequential toys of his life, and trying to grow, but hitting his head and limbs on all sides of the box.”
Called Stark Realism
Writing in “The General Assembly News,” official publication of the triennial council meeting here which ended Friday, Mrs. McNeur says, “‘The Box’ is a direct and truthful statement of the human situation as it is. There is no intent to hide the facts, nor wish them away with sentiment, nor any attempt to suggest how the tragedy of our sick society can be healed. His attempt is merely to state ‘The Real.’”
Mrs. McNeur concluded her piece by noting: “Interpretation is left to the viewer.”
“Daily Bread” is the theme of the exhibit, demonstrating human suffering and suggesting Christian responsibility or concern. Peter Selz curator of painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was the judge.