“The Air Is So Thin Between Here and There”: David Foox’s Show at MINY Gallery

Here at Untapped New York, we’ve been following what the always exciting artist  David Foox.  After seeing him paint live at Saks Fifth Avenue  and checking out his post-apocalyptic Wall Street studio,  we all wanted to know what this enigmatic artist would put forth in his show at MINY (Made in NY) Gallery in Soho.

Many of the paintings use symbols taken from various mythologies: Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian. Several paintings featured lion heads. A small grouping near the entrance portrayed sharks. Some of these paintings incorporated collage elements, like newspaper clippings. According to Foox, the concept behind this exhibition is “that spiritual remnants from other dimensions and time periods are able to influence and change our present through channeled communication and possession.”

I asked Foox about the symbolism behind these paintings. He explained that “the shark is the apex predator of the sea. They are a reference to one’s desire to overcome limited forces,” the rabbit represents “a spiritual force from the future” and “the FOLLOW rabbit is about creating your own dream, and following your heart.” I asked him how his fantasies influence his paintings, and he said, “My fantasies are pretty consistent. They involve seeing the happiness, love and laughter of those most dear to me and being the great person inside me that I know is there in all of us.”

Foox explained that these two paintings, called Lion Lord and Eagle Woman, go together. The lion man is surrounded by the five elements. He has a look of anguish on his face because of the realization that he’s stuck in the material world. The eagle woman is surrounded by symbols from numerology. She represents Isis, and the thirteen circles surrounding her refer to the story of the Egyptian god Ra, who was cut up into parts and thrown in the Nile. When I asked Foox what the wolf represents, he replied that the wolf is her spirit animal.

In the photo below, Foox poses in front of his favorite painting, which shows the Ancient Greek god Pan.

What’s coming up next for Foox? This summer he’ll be shooting his first feature film in South Korea.

Read about Foox’s foray into live painting at Saks Fifth Avenue and his uncanny studio high up in an abandoned Wall St. office.

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