Artist's Biography

Keith Fox has had five solo art shows—two in Athens, Georgia, (1994),two in Iowa City, Iowa, (1995; 1996), and one in Lisbon, Portugal, (1999)(1)—and has had his works published as illustrations twenty-one times, in a periodical, (2) an academic journal,(3) as well as on the covers of two textbooks,(4) a workbook,(5), and a web page.(6) Furthermore, as a result of his 1999 solo show in Lisbon, Portugal, he has been invited to prepare a new solo painting show for the Museu do Trabalho/Michele Giacometti (Work Museum) in Setúbal, Portugal, between April 27 and June 3, 2000.(7)

In May and June of 1999, college credit was granted to interns installing, cataloguing, and marketing Keith Fox's paintings, and others' works of fine art, in Portland, Oregon, through the Portland Old Town Arts and Culture Foundation's internship program for Seeing Money, an art event designed to explore the role of art and money in culture, featuring artists who use money as the medium or as thematic content. Two of Keith Fox's works from a series of his paintings whose thematic content is money, entitled "The Checkbook Man Collection," (8) had been selected for the exhibition by curator Helen Gundlach. Interns received credit for Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland Community College, Marylhurst College, Lewis and Clark College, Reed College, and Portland State University.(9)

Keith Fox has written two articles on the subject of contemporary art for the United States Department of Agriculture, Wisconsin Four-H Visual Art Program for Youth. Furthermore, he has had his humorous one-sentence response to the question, "What is an artist?" published by Art Calendar magazine in its 1999 Annual Resource Directory. (10)

The subjects that Keith Fox enjoys painting include the still life, the portrait, the semiabstract, and the abstract. He also enjoys mixing traditional and experimental methods of painting, which emphasize special effects with color, as well as the use of lettering and phrases as artistic symbols. Additionally, he participates in various artistic movements: Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop Art. In fact, through the process of translating his collages into paintings, Keith Fox often creats both abstract and semiabstract works that are not only based on the imagery of popular culture, but also develop dreamlike ideas.

During Summer 1997 and Spring 1998 semesters, Keith Fox has held the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor and taught Watercolor Painting at The Univesity of Iowa, School of Art and Art History/Center for Credit Program, Division of Continuing Education. Furthermore, during the Summer 1989 and Summer 1990 semesters, he held the position of Art Instructor and taught art in the United States Department of Agriculture, Wisconsin Four-H Visual Art Program for Youth. Between November 15 and December 15, 1999, Keith Fox taught Watercolor for the non-profit organization Arts Iowa City Center and Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa. Since Fall 1999 Keith Fox is editor of ArtSheet, the quarterly newsletter of Arts Iowa City.

Born and raised in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, a small Midwestern farming community, Keith Fox now lives in Iowa City, Iowa, and is affiliated with Studiolo gallery, Iowa City, Iowa, the Campbell Steele Gallery, Marion, Iowa, and the Summit Street Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa. Keith Fox's most recent degree is an M.F.A. form the University of Wisconsin-Madison, (1993).(11)

(1) i.) June 1999: "Abstracções e semi-abstracções/Abstractions and Semiabstractions," Bulhosa Livreiros, Campo Grande, 10B, 1700 Lisbon, Portugal. Click to view show: www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/8925/bulhosa.html; ii.) 1996: "Keith Fox: A Free-Speech Motif--paintings," Gallery B, ARTS IOWA CITY/Center and Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa; iii.) 1995: "On Exhibit, Recent Works by Painter Keith Fox," Annie Graham Publishing Services, Iowa City, Iowa; iv.) 1994: "Getting a Career by Keith Fox," B'Nai B'Rith Hillel Foundation, Athens, Georgia; v.) 1994: "Abstract Cartoons by Keith Fox," Lock Nest Hair Studio, Athens, Georgia.

(2) Changing Men, 23, Fall/Winter 1991. 3.

(3) Torre de Papel.

(4) Joseph Abraham Levi. O Dicionário Português-Chinês de Padre Matteo Ricci, S.J., (1552-1610). Uma abordagem histórico-linguística. New Orlens: UP of the South, 1998; Joseph Abraham Levi, ed. Hernando del Pulgar. Los Claros Varones de España. (ca. 1483). A Semi-Paleographic Edition. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.

(5) Joseph Abraham Levi. Portugal. Caderno de Exercícios. Iowa City: Maecenas P, 1994.

(6) Home Page of Doctor Teresa Satterfield www.umich.edu/~tsatter

(7) April 27—July 3, 2000: "Fantasmagoria de um freguês. Reflexões sobre formas e cores dentro de um supermercado/The Phantasmagoria of a Shopper. Contemplations on the Shapes and Colors found in a Supermarket." Museu do Trabalho/Michele Giacometti, Setúbal, Portugal; June 1999: "Abstracções e semi-abstracções/Abstractions and Semiabstractions," Bulhosa Livreiros, Campo Grande, 10B, 1700 Lisbon, Portugal; 1996: "Keith Fox: A Free-Speech Motif--paintings," Gallery B, ARTS IOWA CITY/Center and Gallery, Iowa City, Iowa; 1995: "On Exhibit, Recent Works by Painter Keith Fox," Annie Graham Publishing Services, Iowa City, Iowa; 1994: "Getting a Career by Keith Fox," B'Nai B'Rith Hillel Foundation, Athens, Georgia; 1994: "Abstract Cartoons by Keith Fox," Lock Nest Hair Studio, Athens, Georgia.

(8) Click to view pagewww.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/8925/checkbookman.html

(9) Seeing Money: A Unique Art Event of Uncommon Currency. A Project of the Portland Old Town Arts and Culture Foundation. 225 NW 14th Avenue, Portland, Oregon. May 6 — June 6, 1999. www.seeingmoney.com

(10) Here's the sentence:

"An artist is either compared to a two-year-old or is admired as an intellectual, is either labeled as sick or is ranked as a master, is either a paying member of pricey professional societies or is an alleged folk artist, is either starving or a 'good business person' (in other words, not a genuine artist), is either an art student or an art professor (but, in neither case, an artist as of yet), is either socially ill at ease about being artistic (that is, arty) or socially at ease about fashioning artsy-craftsy works for well-informed amateurs (not connoisseurs), is either required to fill out an 'artist application form' by a licensing agent or is encouraged to 'find another career to fall back on' by a parent of welfare worker!"

Cf. Keith Fox. "What is an Arist?" Art Calendar 1999 Annual Resource Directory. 58.

(11) Keith Fox will be very happy to answer all of your questions or comments regarding his art and methodology. Thank you!