So there’s this old visual puzzle of a nine dot grid (3 dots by 3
dots). You're probably familiar with it. Or, if not, the graphic
(complete with its solution) is likely attached to this release
or on an announcement card nearby, depending upon where
you’re reading this. But in the case that you aren’t or it isn’t,
the task is to connect all nine dots with only four straight
lines, each line starting from the end of another such that the
puzzle can be solved without lifting your pen or pencil from
the paper.

The puzzle inspired both a terribly clichéd catchphrase and
me to notice a wide variety of ways contemporary artists are
looking beyond the frame. To cite some examples...

Marco Maggi allows his graphite and drypoint drawings to
cleverly escape from their typical circumstance.

And Paul de Guzman brings the insides of books and
magazines out in a process where the architecture of art is
revealed.

Emil Lukas takes familiar material, such as thread or his own
dried-out paint mixing cups, and allows them dominion
beyond the canvas into our, the viewer’s, space.

A similar thing happens in Liliana Porter’s work where her
objects and figurines are literally off the page and stepping
into our world.

Jim Campbell cooperates with Alan Rath to instead bring
things from the outside world into his digital "page."

Working outside the box in an abstract way, Gay Outlaw and
Felipe Barbosa each create objects that play with the spaces
where two and three dimensions meet.

Sometimes thinking outside the box just requires letting it all
hang out -- such as Byron Kim’s paint and encaustic works
that hang off the canvas surface to surprising effect.

Jonathon Brand’s take is literally a box that unfurls itself like
a blossoming flower.

And Rebecca Goldfarb has found that she’d rather leave the
question of what’s outside the box to you to surveil.

To be clear, in no case are these artists explicitly thinking in
corporate terms. Their outside-the-box tendencies are
features of artworks that address a wide range of other
issues and aesthetic concerns. But within the context of this
theme, we are afforded a perspective on the myriad, creative
methods artists find to expand the traditional boundaries of
artistic practice.

Curated by Hosfelt Gallery Assistant Director Jay Auslander.