The Little World

I go to art galleries in the various capital cities I visit on a regular basis. Some, like the NGV in Melbourne or the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney get a visit whenever I’m in town. Others, like the various modern art galleries or smaller dealer’s galleries might get a hit every two or three years. I can honestly say that I have never been to a gallery that was not rewarding in some way – either sheer beauty or food for thought. I even buy a gallery book every so often.

But I really should visit the hobby galleries more often as well. They seem to have as much art on their shelves as any of the more intellectual buildings, and when you want to buy a piece you can do it for $ 35 instead of $ 35,000.

I’m talking about the art on the model boxes. It is, as all art is, a variable commodity. There are good artists and great artists, but rarely are there any bad artists. With the possible exception of some of the car kits of the 60’s and 70’s, few of the boxtop illustrators have gone down the line of abstract or impressionistic renderings. I would guess that the clientele and the retail customer don’t want to see that sort of vapouring – they want a clear picture of the model.

Or rather, they want a clear picture of the prototype. Remember the hooha in the 70’s and 80’s about illustrations of products on cans and packets? The sort of legalistic battle that saw the introduction of ” serving suggestion ” to let the people selling beans show them in a pot without having to can the pot as well… or to pay the ambit claim of some shyster and his client. Well it happened in model building too, with a scramble to put photographs of the model inside the box rather than an artist’s impression. The lines about not including paint or cement were added, and I’m surprised that they did not have to add a paragraph about not including a band saw or water pump as well.

I found the photographic box illustrations a bit of a turn-off – they were either more perfect than ever I could aim at or crude to the point of being toys. I was delighted to see painted box art return.

Most box art is stirring stuff. Brilliant colours and tortured perspectives are quite common and there is never any doubt about what the hero of the illustration is – it is the bits in the box. And they are not at all shy about making nationalistic statements either – whichever country produces the models save their biggest victories for the aircraft, vehicles, and ships of their own armed forces.

Wise packagers put colourful things on each face of the package save the plain grey bottom. Airfix or other makers who might supply some kits as end-opening packages can get another face for illustration out of that form of wrap. Mostly they waste it is an advertisement for their other services. I applaud the ones that mark the scale clearly enough to be seen even if the kit is at a top shelf and I admire the discipline of the makers who can decide upon a colour for a particular scale or range and then stick to it for all subsequent models – makes visual selection ever so much easier for the customer.