Interview with emerging artist
Scott Foxx
- by Carrie Whitney
When did you first understand that you were going to be an artist?
There was never a moment of realization about "being" anything in particular. I always made art. It was the thing I simply did with every spare moment of my day and probably the thing I was always best at. Moving into art as a career was a decision between studio versus business, painting versus graphic design or some other structured endeavor. But then I just accepted it like an addict and have been supporting my habit ever since I was around 20 years old.
Who were some of your early artistic inspirations?
My dad was probably first - he was a painter and a teacher, and many of his works hung around the house - some modern, some more realistic. There were also his books and the occasional excursions to galleries and museums. Then I found my art teachers - old Art in America magazines - and became fixated on Picasso for quite a while. After that it was [Jean] Dubuffet because of his creative draftsmanship. In both cases I found out that realism was a skill to be learned, but was not the end of expression in art making. I continued focusing on modern masters after that like [Jasper] Johns, [Willem] de Kooning and [Andy] Warhol. And there was a brief affair with [Georgia] O'Keeffe, but I won't go into that - it's just too painful!
What are the meanings behind the lines, shapes and often vibrant colors found in your work?
My work is about forming a balanced composition through a process of layering and editing. The horizontal forms are a reference to handwriting or bars of music, both of which convey particular bits of information. The idea is how information is transferred between the speaker and the listener. It can be written, spoken or symbolic, and this transfer or conversation is the essence of painting as well. What is being said is not so relevant.
Frankly, color in my work is a matter of taste and contrast with a fair bit of theory in order to push and pull the grounds to create tension.
What types of materials and technical processes do you use in your pieces?
I only use acrylic and water-based products. I can't take the odor and slow drying time of oil products. Water-based paint materials dry quickly and layer easily, and my techinique is dependent on this method of layering, removing, scraping and editing. It's all automatism. The work reveals inspiration as to composition and direction. Texture is very important. I can't stand a smooth surface - I like my surface to be able to respond to my gestures.
As an artist, what are you specifically interested in now?
Beauty. And a beauty that stretches across the entire canvas as a whole composition without a centered point of reference. My compositional influence is probably best informed by the Asian rules of aesthetics where the revealed elements are just as important as the hidden or past elements and subtlety is preferable to ostentation. Lately, I have been looking at [Cy] Twombly and Arabic script, calligraphy and my nephew's drawings - he is five.
What is new about the pieces in this show?
The new work is quieter, less ego. Frequently in the past I 
have fallen in love with a passage or texture and found myself creating the whole painting around this single moment. Now I allow myself to paint over any area or mark in order to blend and balance the picture more completely. As opposed to past works, these are more serene and less fractured. The color is also more sophisticated in that the primary and black is gone in favor of tertiary harmony.
How has your work already developed and what direction do you see it taking in the near future?
I have to make five paintings to make the sixth and the sixth is the one I really want. The immediate impulse is valuable, but utterly dispensable. I feel I have made my five and with this new work, I have some new ground, which is far more secure and has solidified a good deal of my aesthetic. This is an aesthetic of color, form, editing and subtlety ... and accident. My future work will be deeper with layers and perhaps larger, or maybe smaller. Perhaps both?
When people view your work, what do you hope they will see in it?
A quiet beauty, which though it references words, music and calligraphy defies lengthy explanation and simply fills its space.
How long have you been exhibiting your work?
I have been showing since high school, but exhibiting professionally since 1998.
What has been a favorite moment for you as an artist?
In trying to explain my work, a good friend referred to me as a painter's painter. I found that very complimentary.
How do you see yourself in relation to the art world?
The art world is like the universe - a swirling place of action without a defined center. Where am I? I am in it making stuff! Where it goes or what it becomes, I have no way of knowing, I just have to do it. I am certainly not avant-garde, nor am I a classicist-modernist. Maybe I am. But even that term is ceasing to mean anything.
How do you view artists in relation to the world at large?
Too often anymore, artists are simply designers, but I don't feel comfortable with this. In history, artists have both defined culture and supported it so how can one say what an artist today does? We live in a dog eat dog world where anything goes. The artist though is still the last bastion of independent aesthetics. Or at least can be so.
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