The BOX...a damaged soul, healed by a new environment

The mystery

Give me the box!
Actually this sentence comes from a serie of horror movies from the past. The horror movie that I am talking about was one of the first I ever watched. The first episode created in 1987 and directed by Clive Barker, with a pretty awesome movie make-up for that time. These movies were more like art to me, although the main character was based on something from a hardcore SM-club in New York (not really my thing in real life). It kind of inspired my topic of the final year of art class at high school. During this final year, you could chose out of 3 different topics. The topic I choose was aggression and got inspired by street violence, demons and horror movies. I was I bit surprised that I was the only one in class that had chosen that topic. After the final exam all our work was exposed at school. Friends and family of all the students walked around the exposition. While wondering around tranquil beautiful pieces of art, most of them were not prepared for a horrific corner of violence, blood, torture and monsters. I had to laugh when I saw the reaction on most of the faces. I have to admit, shocking people is sometimes a way to be seen (while I was a shy person for a long time with hardly any impressive skills). Funny enough I was the best in class that year, almost every piece of work got the highest grade (In the Netherlands a 10 is the highest you can get and I got only 9’s and 10’s). The main character was called ‘Pinhead’ and had obviously a lot of pins in his head. I am talking about the movie ‘Hellraiser’. The first 4 episodes were probably the best. It seems that there are 7 other sequels, and I have not seen the 2022 edition yet. The first episodes have quotes that are classic in my long histopry of watching horror movies: "We'll tear your soul apart!" or "Demon to some, Angel to Others". But where is this story going?

The box, from the Hellraiser movies

The mystery & a heavy load
A few years ago I was visiting a thrift shop in the middle of Portugal. Between all the rubbish, my eyes got distracted to an antique wooden box. I love certain travel chests and wooden chests, especially the Asian ones with wood carvings. This one had carvings as well, but not like the Asian chests. It had carvings with desert images and camels. I haven't seen this type of wooden chest before, so I wanted it. I bought the chest with the antique copper handles for about 60 euro's. Because I was traveling with a van for a long time, I could not keep it in the van. I left it on several places and stored it at friends. After a little emergency fix, I wrapped the whole thing in pallet wrapping film, and it was still possible to open the lid. I stored some other things inside, that I didn't need. I tried to search for this box online and so far I could only find 2 hits, both on auction websites in Portugal. For me, the box is still a bit of a mystery. From time to time, I had to move this box. Because my friends needed more space in their storage or they were moving. The heavy box was not easy to carry by one person and in the van it was difficult to position it. Some people asked if I was already carrying my own coffin. This mysterious thing was becoming a heave load. It described a bit of my life...the mysterious good looking guy (I did not come up with this compliment myself), carrying a heavy load.

A few methods trying to get rid of the smell

One of the inside parts that needed recovery and has been fixed

Trying to open up a bit

Starting to get sick
After one of the latest stay overs, the box started to get smelly. If you translate this into Dutch (= stinkende doos) it can also have a totally different meaning: a smelly vagina. I moved the box to another basement. But I should know...if you keep someone constantly in cold dark damped space, they would get sick. Not that I have any experience with that in real life, but I've seen a lot of horror/thriller movies. I think my carved mysterious friend got a bit ill. I tried to give it several treatments (vinegar, sand paper and 3 layers of varnish), but still it is not recovering. Recently I moved it to a place with enough day light, maybe it need vitamin D. I also put fresh coffee inside. I gave my friend some perfume by using incentives. So far, not much has changed. The inner soul of the box is still ill. I don't know the history of my friend, so it's hard to figure out the cause of the illness. I can see it has a lot of wounds on the outside. Maybe vitamin D, fresh air, warm temperatures, nice words and coffee isn't enough. I talked, but besides having similar issues...I am not getting any useful feedback.

Several examples of the wounded soul

Antique vs. German parket

Contrasts and framing, life seems full of it. But are we really that different?

The new friend
I know from own experience...that the right environment can make you grow and feel better. Mr. Woody Camel maybe needs a younger friend and some waves. I introduced him to a surf chick. The old wounded soul, needed a bright place with ocean vibes and sun. I moved it into a room. I placed the dark mystery in front of another mysterious character: a piece of art from Florian Leible. This German artist uses several techniques with using drawing, photography, painting and printing. The painting on the wall is a limited edition version and from a totally different level than the brown cheap mysterious old character. The painting is made on a glass plate, photographed and printed on canvas paper with a special printer. The image gives me a feeling of waves and a bit of a feminine touch. Florian delivered his artwork himself and we talked a bit about his work, atelier and techniques. I decided this piece of art needed a bright spot. I love to be in the bleu ocean waves with my bodyboard and I feel even better when the rays of sun will start to shine at the waves. I searches for the best spot in this apartment and realized that the canvas paper matched perfect with this wall wall in a similar color. The wall also has a certain relief/structure in it. The handmade frame of the painting (or print) matched perfect the typical German wooden parket floor. This matching environment, could it match with the old soul? Can you put the old smelly guy into the ocean between the young Insta-perfect ocean lovers? Yes!

The new friend still hanging out with similar friends, no big contrasts

Feeling different and a bit sick, hiding in a corner. Trying to unlock

The fresh & wild breeze. Although the official name is 'F100'

The contrast
Being different doesn't mean you won't fit in any environment. Differences and great contrast can also go well together. You can see it in the pictures, from a first impression it seems to fit well together. And what about the smell? A soon as you find out more about certain mysteries and treating things well, the scent will turn into a breath of fresh air. Don't lock yourself, and don't be afraid to open the box. Wounds can be visible, but it doesn't mean a heavy load needs to make you sick. Time will tell, if life is a way to heaven or a living hell...

Open up a bit

Accept the differences

Unlock, get out of the box & connect

All pictures are taken by me, using a Samsung S23 Ultra

Except the image of the Hellraiser box