Abi Box
Born: UK, 1985. Based in London and Bermuda
Disco, Oil on Canvas, 152 × 109 × 4 cm
Camberwell College of Arts (BA Hons Painting , 2008)
Painting as poetry makes sense to me, especially with concern to translation and interpretation, words painting pictures and pictures inspiring words. I like to think of the possibilities present in gesture and suggestion, to think of light as something so bright that it might be audible. When I paint, my mind is in constant flux for how a painting can be made, constructed, pieced together, and subsequently read and understood. I want to make spacious, minimal, balanced paintings, I want to make awkward, messy, chockablock paintings. I’d like to make both kinds of painting at the same time, and then there’s the risk, every time, of making a bad painting. The good paintings are so often accidental, ignorantly brave and beautifully reckless.
Abi Box is a British artist based between London and Bermuda. Graduating with a fine art degree from Camberwell School of Art in London, her work focuses on gesture and mark making. Box’s work is held in both a number of private and public collections including the UAL Alumni Collection and Simmons Contemporary. She has had several artist residencies in Switzerland, Wales and Peru, and recent exhibitions include; Paper Cuts curated by Kristian Day, Saatchi Gallery, London; The Smaller The Larger curated by Kate Hiley, Sobering Galerie, Paris; as well as having work selected for ASC 40° Celsius and the Bermuda Biennial.
EDUCATION
2008 Camberwell College of Art, BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting
2005 Camberwell College of Art, BA (Hons) Fine Art Sculpture
2004 Glasgow School of Art, Foundation Diploma in Fine Art Studies Sculpture and Environmental Design
RESIDENCIES / AWARDS
2018 40 Celsius Shortlisted
Art Prize Shortlisted
2016 Stiwdio Maelor Corris North Wales
Refugio Amazonas Puerto Maldonado Peru Rainforest
2015 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Shortlisted
Trélex Residency Switzerland
Runner up in the Holly Box Tree Drawing Competition
2013 La Braderie de l'Art La Condition Publique Roubaix France
2010 Signature Art Prize Shortlisted
2008 Catlin Art Prize Longlisted
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2019 Easily Distracted BSoA Bermuda (Solo)
Windswept BSoA Bermuda (Solo)
2018 40 Celsius ASC Art House London
Paper Cuts Saatchi Gallery London
Bermuda Biennial Bermuda National Gallery
Now Art Casemates Bermuda
Transcendence The Cello Factory London
2017 With Abandon Simmons Contemporary Collection
Small is Beautiful Less and More Unit 3 London
2016 Haloclines Jessica Carlisle Gallery London
Paper Cuts Transition Gallery London
Lost + Found (Mung + Pea's High School Reunion) Unit 3 London
The Smaller The Larger Sobering Galerie Paris
2015 Strobe Maneuvre Unit 3 Projects London
Pretty Peeved Unit 3 Projects London
Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Mall Galleries
2014 Of this Earth Yarrow Gallery Oundle
Dichromatic Allure Identity Art Gallery Hong Kong
2013 Burning Bright Saatchi Suit Hyatt Hotel London
L o u d L i g h t ASC Window Space London (Solo)
Connect A-side B-Side Gallery London
2012 Art Taipei Identity Art Gallery Taipei
Call of the Wild Identity Art Gallery Hong Kong (Solo)
Imprint The Serpentine Gallery Project Space London
2011 Oneforone London View Tube London
2010 Q-art APT Gallery London
2007 Shedworks Regent's Park and Dulwich Park London
PRESS / PUBLICATIONS
The Violet Hour 2019, Art Maze Mag 2018, Traction Magazine 2015, MTV RE:DEFINE, Interview with Hannah Shakir, The Palette Pages 2014, PHOENIX Magazine (interview with Leigh Keily & Stuart Semple), The Dragonfly (interview with Vanessa Champion), Artist Spotlight (interview with Charlotte Broomfield) 2013, Londonist, FAD 2012, Avant Gardening does barbican 2013
COLLECTIONS / COMMISSIONS
Simmons Contemporary, University of the Arts London Alumni Collection, Private Collections, The BBC
OTHER PROJECTS
Assistant to Nina Rodin at Trelex Residencies in Switzerland, Peru 2015, Paris 2016, and Istanbul 2017
Unit 3 Projects: artist led space, supported by ASC Studios, 2011