Rago Auctions

Critically-acclaimed American artist Roxy Paine was educated at the College of Santa Fe (now Santa Fe University of Art and Design) in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York. While at Pratt, Paine began working at the metal shop and found himself drawn to sculpture and installation work. Since the beginning of his career, his creations have all been centered around the exploration of control (and the lack or loss thereof) and translation, as he explains: “The pieces will take whatever physical form is the best to convey that idea. What interests me most are the conceptual ligaments that connect them.” He creates in categories and his oeuvre consists of Art-Making Machines, Fields, Replicants, Specimen Cases, Dendroids, and Dioramas.

Paine’s work is often as paradoxical as it is diverse, with a through line of the attempt to meld industrial with organic and the consideration of, interaction between, and ramifications of manmade and natural systems. His Dendroids are tree sculptures made of metal; Replicants are replicas of flora and fungi made of industrial materials; and Art-Making Machines are mini-factories that produce works of art. With the exception of more recent, monumental installations, he makes everything by hand in his own studio.

Paine’s work has been exhibited internationally since the early 1990s and is included in major public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco MoMA; and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. He was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and has permanently sited works at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. Paine lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.