Carson Fox

Carson Fox at work in her studio.

Carson Fox is a Brooklyn based artist whose work relies heavily on the imprint that individual experience has on the artist, and centers on the production of sculpture, installation, printmaking, and artist books.

Fox received her MFA from Rutgers University, her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a four-year studio certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  ver her career, she has had thirty solo exhibitions and has participated in over one hundred group exhibitions. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of The Museum of Arts and Design, The Royal Museum of Belgium, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, among others. Additionally, Fox has created multiple permanent installations of artwork in public and corporate venues, including within the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority, University of Arkansas, Temple University, and Boston University. She has received various honors acknowledging her accomplishments: including international residencies in China, Wales, Germany, and Belgium, multiple artist grants and other awards, and has been invited to speak about her career at universities and museums across the United States and abroad. Her work has been reviewed in publications including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the New Yorker magazine.  

Fox lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is represented by Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA and Cynthia Winings Gallery, Blue Hill, ME.

Can you tell us a bit about the process of making your work? 

Carson Fox
Tower 1,2 and 3
Resin, foam, steel

In my sculptures and installations, I typically work with brightly hued resin.  Sculptures are made freeform from poured, carved, and manipulated resin dusted with layers of raw pigment, flocking, and sand over mixed media supports. The stand-alone sculptures are more improvisational as they are made, and I may work on them for months before they are resolved, cutting things off and fussing with the surfaces. Installations are more directed, as I usually have a vision for what it should be and it is a matter of making the pieces that will create it. Rubber molds are made from the original sculptures, allowing for hundreds of more pieces to be cast. Casting could be tedious, but here there are many possibilities, as the surfaces can be brushed with pigments and textures rendering each cast unique. 

I usually have at least five things going on at the same time in the studio. In this way, I can be in constant movement and using my time as efficiently as possible. As something is setting up or drying, I can move on to the next thing, and by the time I return, I am looking at the work with a fresh eye.

What are you working on at the moment?

I have been working on a number of new mixed media sculptures that consider ideas about play. Like my other works, they are brightly colored and use resin as the primary material. I have also been experimenting with some new relief prints.  

Carson Fox
Sweet Potato Cactus Flower
Resin, foam, sand

So many of your works involve collecting and piecing together various smaller pieces to create something much larger. Can you elaborate on the process of accumulation in your practice?

When I first moved to New York, I had a studio so small it fit only a table and chair.  Its size was not at all in sync with the ambitions I had at the time, and I had to figure out a way to conceptualize works that were composed of many small parts that could be assembled later to create a larger whole. I suppose that is where the habit of making works of many parts began. While my studios have gotten larger over the years, it is a practice that has remained, and I like the idea that a work is “reborn” every time it is installed, or can be reimagined entirely to make something new.

What are some references you draw upon in your work? Are there any themes in particular that you like to focus on when creating?

Carson Fox
Valentine for Philip Guston
Resin, cardboard

Lately, the issue of balance, as both a metaphor and literal component, has played a critical role in my thinking. Often, voluptuous parts teeter on (seemingly) precarious supports, or layers are stacked to unreasonable heights. This restraint — the act of holding things in place against all odds, speaks to a larger human tension — our daily delicate balance between stability and emotional tumult. Equally important is a sense of exuberant whimsy, one that is both preposterous and ridiculous, yet somehow seeks the sublime.

Where are some of your favorite spaces that support contemporary art or design? Now that the art has an online presence has that changed?

Often my work requires travel, and whenever I can, I seek out the art spaces and communities that are present in unfamiliar places. I find more often than not, there are interesting things happening everywhere, and people are fully committed to the arts. A couple of places that stick in my mind are Bemis (a residency and gallery space) in Omaha, Nebraska and 1708 Gallery (a non-profit space) in Richmond, Virginia. In New York, I especially like Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, and love the grounds and programming of Wave Hill in the Bronx.

The expansion of digital platforms in the art world has really opened things, and I love the democratic nature of it. I have been exposed to so many new artists - young artists, old artists, artists of color - that I don’t think I would have seen if we were limited to traditional white cube spaces. I am addicted to the articles posted daily in Hyperallergic and Artnet, and I appreciate that the discourse has expanded beyond the usual suspects like Art in America and Art Forum. 

Carson Fox
Dante's Butterflies, 2006.
Pigment print.
16 x 20 inches (40.64 x 50.8 centimeters).

Do you have any shows coming up? Anything else you would like to share?

I have been working on a large commission of multiple works for a site in Florida. I have a solo show coming up at Kean University called Rockshow, and group shows at Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art in Georgia and Kunstraum LLC in Brooklyn. 

Carson Fox’s work is included in our show “Eternal Flame,” Jan. 1st – Feb. 28th. Visit her website or Instagram (@carsonfoxstudio) to see more of her work.