Lily Cox-Richard

Lily Cox-Richard is a sculptor whose work engages with the histories of labor, natural resources, and the politics of viewership. She currently lives in Richmond, VA and teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. 
== Education ==
Cox-Richard received her BFA in Jewelry/Metal Arts from California College of the Arts in 2001 and an MFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2008. In 2009, she attended the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts and studied stone carving for six-weeks. 
== Work ==
Lily Cox-Richard is a sculptor who uses materials and forms to examine cultural histories, questions of value, labor, and stewardship. Some of the materials she has used in her sculptures include concrete, plaster, and copper. 
From 2010 to 2014 she created a series of work titled, The Stand (Possessing Powers) in which she carved replicas of the support structures found in Hiram Powers's marble figure sculptures. Cox-Richard's sculptures were made with plaster, historically known to be a provisional material used in the study and process of sculpture. In this work, Cox-Richard examined how myths and allegories promoted the sculptural work made in America during the 19th century. 
In 2016, Cox-Richard exhibited a work titled Salv. at Artpace in San Antonio, TX. The work was made in response to a trip she took to Big Bend Ranch State Park, TX, where she spotted an asphalt truck that had veered off the road and lodged itself into the landscape. Salv. featured three 1-ton copper bales and a work titled "Thunder Egg" resembling the form of a geode but made from the cast interiors of baskets. The work adressed topics of entropy, stewardship, history, sustainability, and value is placed on landscape. 
In 2019, her exhibition at the Blanton, She Wolf + Lower Figs, was reviewed in ARTnews|ARTnews, Artforum|Artforum, and Hyperallergic|Hyperallergic. Interested in the Blanton's Museum William J. Battle Collection of Plaster Casts, she integrated the casts into the exhibition to question "their role in perpetuating notions of physical “perfection” and “whiteness” as [an] ideal, " as noted by Austin Monthly. The sculpture casts were draped in synthetic tule netting and paired with objects made by Cox-Richard, such as a multicolored scagliola She-Wolf and a 30ft-long concrete sidewalk, titled Ramp. Hyperallergic stated, "Lily Cox-Richard: She-Wolf + Lower Figs. questions a long-held association between the aesthetic qualities of classical sculptures with physical whiteness." 
Also in 2019, Cox-Richard collaborated with artist Michael Jevon Demps for a show titled, walking with: Library of Radical Returns, exhibited at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA. The name Library of Radical Returns was based on the question, "What if there’s a kind of library that didn’t depend on things being returned." Cox-Richard continues, "the radicality in that would be a kind of faith that things go out in the world and compound in energy and that is the return." Their exhibition was made in response to taking walks in Richmond and featured materials collected from the sites they visited in the city. The exhibition featured rock tumblers, collected stones, river water, clay sourced from the area, photographs, videos, and audio recordings.
== Exhibitions ==
=== Selected solo exhibitions ===
* 2019 - She-Wolf + Lower Figs., Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
* 2018 - Berm, Diverseworks, Houston, TX
* 2017 - If not an hongo // Si no es un mushroom, Yvonne, Guatemela City, Guatemala
* 2016 - Salv., Artpace, San Antonio, TX
* 2016 - Stringer Lode, She Works Flexible, Houston, TX
* 2011 - Fruiting Bodies, The Poor Farm, Waupaca County, WI
=== Selected group exhibitions ===
* 2019 - walking with: Library of Radical Returns, Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
* 2018 - Our Going On, Moonmist, Houston, TX
* 2018 - Venus Occults Jupiter, Love Apple Art Space, Ghent, NY
* 2018 - Vis-a-vis, Hirschl & Alder Modern, New York, NY
* 2018 - The Dangerous Professors, Flatlands Gallery, Houston, TX
* 2014 - Share This! Appropriation After Cynicism, Denny Gallery, New York, NY
* 2011 - Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Original Jokes About the Suburban and The Poor Farm by the Artists Who Have Exhibited There, Yale University Art Gallery|Yale University, School of the Art, New Haven, CT
* 2008 - Blitzfunk, Kompact Living Space, Berlin, Germany
* 2008 - FourPlay, AREA Gallery, Caguas, Puerto Rico
* 2006 - Dynamic Field, Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC
* 2003 - The Out-of-Towners, Transformer Gallery, Washington, DC
== Residencies, Awards, and Recognition ==
Cox-Richard has attended residencies at Yvonne (a ten-year residency in Guatemala city), Artpace, RAIR in Philadelphia, PA, Millay Colony for the Arts, and The Core Program through the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. 
Cox-Richard has received awards such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship for 2019-2020, the 2015 Houston Artadia Award, and the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in 2012. 
In 2019, she was featured in an article titled " Which Emerging Artist Dominated 2019? 12 Art-World Players Share Their Thoughts", released on Artnet News, which mentioned the news of her solo exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art.
== References ==
Category:American people
Category:American sculptors
Category:American artists