Judy Fox

We are pleased to announce our fourth exhibition by Judy Fox. Known for her uncanny representations of life sized naked children in iconic poses, groupings which relate in visual investigations of character, both primal and cultured. "GOD LOVER" is Ms. Fox's most concentrated installation yet, a single figure in a room. It displays a beautiful reclining youth who invites an extended gaze. And as with all of Fox's work, the longer you look, the more you see.

The exotic figure in the center of the small room is posed self-consciously as the Hindu god Krishna. Known as a playful and mischievous youth, seen charming young girls in glistening scenes of contemporary calendar art, this deity is also a philosopher of war, the omnipotent of the sacred Bhagavadgita. In his typical standing pose turned sideways, this Krishna lies cross-legged, propped on an elbow as his hands mime the flute. A small peacock crown and the yellow platform where he rests echo intensely colored archaic sources, but the tones are softly modulated like western painting. The traditional blue complexion of the god emerges from the shadows of the brown flesh tones, and is also reflected in the blue shadow on the pedestal and on the walls of the installation.

This combination of the idiosyncratic individual model, a cultural type, and an iconic image of a timeless deity was over a year in the making. What has emerged is a dense investigation of the "other", a foreign nature, intriguing, unknowable, and possibly misinterpreted, like a literary figure portrayed by an unreliable narrator. Rendered at once awkward and lyrical, soft and impenetrable, sensual and removed, the form is conjured with the relentless observation applied to an object of love and worship. But, fact or fiction, Fox's vision of an elusive power indefinable by western standards of masculinity is personal and sincere. It's an engrossing image of the uncertainty of contemporary interpretation.

Judy Fox has been exhibiting her work since 1985 both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. She has recently exhibited at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris and in Salzburg. A show at the Kohler Art Center, in Wisconsin, is on view from Dec 9, 2001 through March 3, 2002. Her work has been seen in the 1995 Venice Biennale. Pressetext

Judy Fox