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| Swan God, 2014. Image Courtesy of the Artist. |
I was immediately drawn to Sarah Fox's work because of her brilliant use of collage and her dynamic, layered compositions. She uses images gathered from books, magazines, and the internet to construct an array of peculiar creatures that she describes as "'others,' those outsiders that don't fit within the clear boundaries of our world."
Fox draws inspiration from artists like Hannah Höch, the pioneering feminist artist who used collage in the early 1920s to critique not only the German government, but also the ideals of femininity and glorified domesticity of the time period. With her collages, Fox's reconfigured beings inhabit their own peculiar worlds and express a beauty ideal all their own.
Read on to learn more about Fox's work, what she's inspired by, and what she's working on next.
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| Frog: Poor Thing (left) and Well what about Stacy, she seems light such a nice girl? (right), 2014. Images courtesy of the Artist. |
What drives you as an artist? What are you passionate about that you're able to express through your art?
I'm a passionate feminist and really believe in women being present and vocal in our world. I think speaking my mind through my work is a big part of my drive.
Where you do find inspiration?
I am constantly looking at art. I try to go to as many shows as my schedule allows and from the visual imagery I see at all these shows and online. Subject matter wise, I am always doing research into what more work is exploring. For a while it was reading a lot of mythologies and Joseph Campbell. Currently, I've been researching adolescence, and our relationship to our body at the time of change. Specifically with children who may be a bit different.
Which artists do you admire most, and why?
I love the drawings of Egon Schiele. I don't know anyone who can draw better and with more power than he could at such a young age. Wangechi Mutu's work is also very important to me. I could stare at her pieces for hours. The subject matter is often very violent and dark, they often speak to a sort of bodily violence. But, she works with this dark subject matter in such a strange and beautiful way. She is also an incredibly beautiful and intelligent woman, a big inspiration me. Other artists whose work I just love are Pipilotti Rist, David Altmejd, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Joseph Cornell, and Trenton Doyle Hancock. They are all dealing with the figure in art, but doing it in a way that deconstructs the body, or changes the body into something other, something more.
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| Song for Sister: Everything will be okay, 2014. Image courtesy of the Artist. |
Sarah Fox is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her thesis exhibition is planned for December 2015. She will also be part of the Texas Artist Connection group exhibition at the Carver Center this August. You see more of Fox's work at AnArte Gallery or by visiting her website, www.sarahfoxart.com.
