Kevin Box
"...I see a piece of paper as a clean slate, white as light, perfect and full of potential..."
ARTIST STATEMENT
I create work that celebrates the delicate nature of paper in museum quality bronze. My compositions emerge from my desire to describe the nature of creativity and, as I see it, the architecture of the soul.
As an artist, I see a piece of paper as a clean slate, white as light, perfect and full of potential. This potential is activated by light and shadow as decisions crease into the surface. Composition emerges through the paper as it documents these decisions, remembering, revealing and recording the experience of creation.
By combining wax and contemporary casting techniques I developed, each piece is cast into bronze and finished with refined patinas that recall aged parchment. Paper planes, origami, crumpled ideas and innovative abstraction are all themes contained within a portfolio that continues to unfold.
I desire that my sculptures uplift, inspire and encourage those with whom I interact and those I may never have the opportunity to meet.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
KEVIN BOX
BORN 1977, Oklahom
Kevin Box defines a goal of giving as motivation for his work: “I desire that my sculptures uplift, inspire, and encourage…” Working with mostly bronze and stainless steel cast forms derived from folded paper, Kevin’s sculptures visually explore the creative process as much as they provide a sense of hope and harmony. His sculptures use paper as the starting point for both an ‘organic burnout’ casting process as well as his subject matter. A blank piece of paper is a place to record thoughts and plan out new possibilities; as Kevin describes, “I see a piece of paper as a clean slate, white as light, perfect and full of potential.”
Developing permanence out of fleeting moments and fragile origami and folded paper forms has been integral to Kevin’s artistic motivation and a source of collaboration with a number of artists and mathematicians. Mary Anne Redding, Curator for the New Mexico History Museum, observed this attempt to preserve as important to Kevin’s work in reviewing his contribution to an exhibition at the Preston Contemporary Art Center, “Crumpled paper tossed away is ephemera, so much forgotten detritus; the weight of bronze clutched in one’s fist provides a more enduring sensation.”
In a finished work, Kevin often combines the determined elegance of origami with the complex and pleasing textures of specifically chosen rocks or boulders. These natural pedestals, much like Chinese scholar’s stones (Gongshi), provide a rhythmic and meditative focal point to gardens or interior settings. Lyrical arrangements of bronze folded cranes, cast Russian Olive branches, and New Mexico quarried stones in the “Nesting Crane” series attest to Kevin’s appreciation of nature. As Mary Anne Redding commented, “There is a wonderful sense of movement in a Box sculpture.”
Kevin earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts where he studied in Savannah and New York City and completed a Master Foundry Apprenticeship at the Michael Hall Studio Foundry in Austin, TX. His sculpture has been exhibited at the Preston Contemporary Art Center, the Tucson Museum of Art in AZ, the Longview Museum of Fine Arts in TX, and the Knoxville Museum in TN. Kevin’s sculptures are cast in limited and unlimited editions that range in size from handheld maquettes to monumental public works and are featured in numerous national and international private and public arts collections. A native of Oklahoma, Kevin Box now resides and works in Santa Fe, NM.
education
1999-02 Master Foundry Apprenticeship, Michael Hall Studio Foundry, Austin, TX
1999 BFA School of Visual Arts, NYC
1995 Graphic Arts, Tri-County Technical School, OK
1994 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Kevin Box, National Sculptors Guild Member
selected exhibitions
2012 Turquoise Trail Sculpture Garden and Studio Santa Fe, NM
2011 Longview Museum of Fine Arts Longview, TX
Preston Contemporary Art Center Mesilla, NM
2011 Selby Fleetwood Gallery Santa Fe, NM
Ramey Fine Art Gallery Palm Desert, CA
2010 Selby Fleetwood Gallery Santa Fe, NM
Thornwood Gallery Houston, TX
Dolce Gallery Telluride, CO
2009 Thornwood Gallery Houston, TX
Selby Fleetwood Santa Fe, NM
2008 Selby Fleetwood Gallery, SFe, NM
2008 Knoxville Museum, TN
2008 Thornwood Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007 La Quinta Art Festival, CA
2007 Bayou City Art Festival, Houston, TX
2007 Austin Museum of Art, TX
2007 Austin Fine Art Festival, TX
2007 Main Street Fine Art Festival, Fort Worth, TX
2007 Festival of the Arts, Oklahoma City, OK
2007 Thornwood Gallery, Houston, TX
2007 Benson Sculpture Garden, Loveland, CO
2007 Cottonwood Art Festival, Dallas, TX
2006 "In the Fold" Austin, TX
2006 Tansu Gallery, Houston, TX
2006 Columbine Galleries, SFe, NM
2006 Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
2005 National Sculptors Guild, SFe, NM
2004 Driskel Hotel Gallery, Austin, TX
2001 Lotus Gallery, Bay City, TX
1999 17th St Sculpture Gallery, NYC
1998 SVA Sculpture Studio, NYC
publications
Southwest Art, "21 Under 31, Introducing 21 Young Artists You Should Know" by Bonnie Gangelhoff and Julie Osterman, September 2005
Houston Chronicle, "In the Fold" by Eillen McClelland, April 4, 2006
collections
2012 SilicAspire, Pima County Department of Transportation Tucson, AZ
2011 Temple Mandala and Star Mandala, El Dorado Hotel Santa Fe, NM
Red Pony Monument, Booth Western Art Museum, Permanent Collection, Cartersville, GA
Four Seasons, Oklahoma Central University Edmond, OK
From The Tree and Red Paper Dress, Public Sculpture Walk Whittier, CA
Rock Paper Scissors, University Medical Center Plaza Omaha, NE
Folding Planes, Greenspoint Development Authority Houston, TX
Rising Cranes, Paseo Del Mar Santa Monica, CA
5 Books of Wisdom, Parkview Hospital Toledo, OH
2008 "Paper Planes" monument, Greenspoint Redevelopment, Houston, TX
2008 "Resotration" monument, City of Paramount, CA
2008 "Ladder of the Rising Stars," Boulder, CO
2007 "Crane Unfolding" & "Plane Folding," City of Little Rock, AR
2007 "Crane Unfolding" monument, Wester Kentucky U, KY
2007 "Rock Paper Scissors," Longview Museum of Art, TX
2007 "Pony Pair" monument Benson Sculpture Garden, Loveland, CO
2006 "Pony" monument, City of Paramount, CA
2006 "Star Unfolding" monument, City of Paramount, CA
2006 "Crane Unfolding" monument, Fine Arts Institute, Edmond, OK
2005 "Moonlight Sonata," Austin Symphony, TX
2005 "Star Unfolding," Fine Arts Institute, Edmond,OK
2002 "Seed Song," Institute of Applied Ontology, Dahlonega, GA
1999 "H.T. Maclin," bronze portrait of founder, United Methodist Mission Society
HONORS AND AWARDS
2012 Santa Feans You Should Know: Santa Fean Magazine
2010 Featured Cover Artist: Southwest Art Magazine Sculpture Issue
Purchase Prize: Sculpture at the River Market Little Rock, AR
2009 Merit Award: Sculpture at the River Market Little Rock, AR
Everlasting Friendship Honor Oita, Japan
2008 Best in Sculpture: Austin Fine Art Festival Austin, TX
2007 Innovative Artists of the Southwest: Southwest Art Magazine
Best in Show: Sculpture at the River Market Little Rock, AR
Best in Show: Bayou City Art Festival Houston, TX
Best in Sculpture: Austin Fine Art Festival Austin, TX
2006 Ten week Studio Residency: Gordon Studio Santa Fe, NM
2005 Top 21 Artists Under 31: Southwest Art Magazine National
Best in Sculpture: Art Fest Dallas, TX
2004 Top Ten Austin Visual Artists: Austin Visual Arts Association Austin, TX
1998 Presidential Grant: School of Visual Art New York, NY
1995 Rhodes Grant: Four Year Scholarship School of Visual Arts New York, NY
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
1994-present National Sculptors’ Guild
1999-present International Sculpture Center
2005-2006 Business Networking International
