Benjamin Patterson was a talented musician, composer, and artist and a major figure in the Fluxus movement.

In 1978 he sold his entire archive to his friend, collector Jean Brown (it is now at the Getty as part of the Jean Brown Archive). He kept in touch with her and around 1980 made her a special assemblage work of art called Hooked, a fishing tackle box filled with unexpected “hooks” and “lures.”

Some of the items in the box were probably acquired for the piece and some were probably personal objects, like sunglasses, a razor, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. There is a harmonica with fives hooks on it, a sinister-looking glove with hooks on the fingertips, and a tiny mermaid in a flimsy outfit with a lure on her bottom and hooks in her hair.

Patterson paid special attention to words and many of the hooks and lures are more metaphorical. There is a crumpled cigarette wrapper, a little bottle of Jack Daniels, a stack of prayer cards, and political memorabilia – all things that could lure a person or get them hooked. Also included is a figurine of Aunt Jemima, a racist stereotype that Patterson and other African-American artists of the time were taking on and critiquing in their work.

Hooked is among the numerous artists’ boxes currently on view in Fluxus Means Change at the Getty Research Institute. Fluxus emphasized humor, chance, and everyday objects. Patterson and other Fluxus artists such as Marcel Duchamp, George Maciunas, Yoko Ono used these boxes to create opportunities for engagement and mystery and to challenge what they saw as elitist traditional notions of art.

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