Richard Smith (b. 1931)

First of all, I had to move into the shaped two-dimensional canvases because I wanted, always, to arrive at paintings of one thing, one image, making a complete unity: and therefore I eventually shaped the canvas to fit the image. The kind of images I was using then were based on cartons, or boxes. The carton is an incessant theme in present-day civilization: shops are full of boxes and you see these before you see the goods; they practically stand in for the goods - it is not just a question of labeling or depiction. Everything comes in boxes: you buy boxes when you are shopping, you do not buy visible goods; you don’t buy cigarettes, only cartons. The box is your image of the product.
(Richard Smith in conversation with Bryan Robertson, op. cit.)