KEVIN BOX

KEVIN BOX
BORN 1977 – Oklahoma, USA

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 an ‘organic burnout’ casting process and 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.