Roxy Paine

Roxy Paine (born 1966, New York City) is an American painter and sculptor widely known for his installations that often convey elements of conflict between the natural world and the artificial plains man creates. He was educated at both the College of Santa Fe (now Santa Fe University of Art and Design) in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York. Since 1990, Paine's works have been exhibited in major collections and galleries across the United States, Germany, Sweden, England, the Netherlands, and Israel. His most reviewed exhibitions include Replicants, Machines, Dendroids, and Dioramas. Paine is represented by The Kavi Gupta Gallery of Chicago & Berlin and by the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. Roxy Paine currently lives and works in Brooklyn and Treadwell, New York. Biography Paine was born in New York City and raised in the suburbs of northern Virginia. Throughout his childhood, he spent his free time exploring the wooded, overgrown areas of land that separated housing developments in his neighborhood. He describes his experience of growing up in suburbia as a "twisted vision of nature", his environment possessing an "overwhelming blandness". Around age 13 or 14, Paine used his local creek as a place to explore. "There was a creek nearby when I was growing up. That's where I spent most of my time. I would constantly reroute the stream, building dams. I was mostly interested in the water. What I remember distinctly about nature in the suburbs were the borders. The natural world is totally controlled and manipulated in suburbia."At age 15, Paine ran away to California to live with his brother, a hiker and rock climber. His brother's "outdoor western" influence spurred them to hike places like Yosemite and Joshua Tree. Living in California helped Paine make his decision to become an artist. He moved to New Mexico and enrolled at the College of Santa Fe, but he soon dropped out due to poor relations with his professors. "In general, the teachers hated me. I always had problems with art teachers. I don't know why. I didn't go in trying to be confrontational, but it always ended up with bad blood somehow."He then moved to New York and attended Pratt Institute for a time, originally as a painting major but later switching to sculpture. In addition to paintings, Paine produced unusual, functional ceramic and metal musical instruments.