The Matchbox
Soon after graduation – back in 2010 and 2011 – I spent some time living in Brussels. The city was a base for me to move between Belgium, France and northern Italy for projects. When in the city, I’d take daily walks to the Jeu de Balle flea market, hauling back bags stuffed with odds and ends. My creativity flourished more there than anywhere. I’d go as far as to say that those trips to the Jeu de Balle made me the artist I am today.
In the early days, I’d collect all sorts: pieces of furniture, old 8mm ciné film, photographs, books, jotters, stamps… but I quickly began to refine my searches. I’d look for wooden coffee-grinders, because their drawers have a perfect panel on the base to paint on. I’d buy postcards and letters – always fascinated by the marks left by previous keepers. But by far the most exciting object to hunt down was the humble matchbox.
These boxes were once carried, held, struck. Often kept and re-purposed. They formed part of routines, they accompanied people. They provided fire to cook with, to smoke with, to give light. They’re now in a kind of retirement… pieces of ocean one might hold.
I became addicted to collecting them. But not just any brands. They had to be of a certain age, they had to be in a certain condition. Their labels had to be discoloured just the right amount. I’ve grown a huge collection over the years, and though I haven’t been back to Brussels in a good while, I still find the odd matchbox nearer home or online.
At first, I created a series of gouache paintings of matchbox labels. These were exhibited in a show called Unearthed, where almost all the surfaces had come from the Jeu de Balle. Soon after, I began painting directly upon the boxes, but this hid the simple litho-label designs and typefaces that had drawn me in the first place. And so, I developed a technique of cutting inserts from recycled card or wooden offcuts.
Upon these miniature planes I painted seascapes, skylines, mountains. I called the original series Gathered Seconds. The images illustrated the travels I made around Europe. These days I’m travelling less for work, aiming to limit my footprint. So I’m painting sea from imagination; focussing on layering and process.
“[Cass uses] old matchboxes as a convenient mini-machine of moving parts, in which card, paper, ink, and watercolour can transform a small quotidian design marvel into a vessel of succinct communication, by which opposites are made into a whole: waves of water on a fire-making device, an almost-obsolete, once common convenience made into a reminder of our present-day plight.”