Tacks (Pandorasville VIII)

James (Jack) Boynton

Jack Boynton created a suite of 12 lithographs at Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles based on the legend of Pandora’s Box. Titled “Pandorasville Revisited” the suite was done in an edition of 20 plus 11 artist’s proofs, 9 Tamarind Impressions and various other proofs.p/>

In classical Greek mythology, Pandora was the first female on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her. So he did, using water and earth. The gods endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo gave her musical ability, and Hermes gave her speech.p/>

According to Hesiod, when Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora opens a jar containing death and many other evils which were released into the world. She hastened to close the container, but the whole contents had escaped except for one thing that lay at the bottom – Elpis, translated as “Hope.”p/>

Boynton has created a modern city of evils, “Pandoraville,” and created a series of images, contained within a “box.” The meanings of each are left to the viewer to decifer.