Mici Boxell

La Trobe Art Institute (LAI) is pleased to present the work of Mici Boxell as part of the Julie Miller Markoff Visual Arts Prize. We are delighted that a student from the University is afforded an opportunity to exhibit with us in this way and all the more excited that an artist of Boxell’s talent and commitment is involved. The support of Julie Miller Markoff is a most valuable and tremendous boon for visual arts students of La Trobe University, helping to pave the pathway from the learning environment of art school to the professional sphere of public presentations. LAI thanks Julie Miller Markoff for her commitment to the arts and her influence on the lives of emerging artists of the region.

 

This exhibition represents a slice in time for Boxell and her productive output. It is the result of research, diligence, consideration and creative decisions. Where there are layers within the images themselves, there are also layers reflected in her artistic endeavours. Boxell considers the depth of things while attending to their surface realities. Cutting through the nature of a given reality she searches deeper inside the very heart of the scene. Textures of materiality are celebrated as form and as symbol. At work here is a folding of perception on top of reflection.

 

Composing shape and figure, colour and landscape, Boxell weaves foreground and background in a process of push and pull that embraces the viewer’s position as central while allowing her imagery to manipulate that very acknowledgement of control. This playful celebration and disorientation honours the role of the viewer, imbuing the work with a sense of connection between creator and consumer. Boxell clearly revels in her dexterity and ensures we are drawn into her manifold realities with good spirit.

 

LAI would like to thank the artist for her approach in working toward the presentation of this show, grateful as we are that such care in conception and execution has been put into her productive output. Within the context of a University environment, you can’t ask for more than well-considered ideas delivered with material acuity, and in this respect, Boxell delivers with aplomb.