Richard Fox is a British sculptor whose work explores the relationships between form, balance, movement and the space that exists within and between objects. Based in Oxfordshire, Fox began developing his sculptural practice in 2005, following an encounter with the work of Barbara Hepworth in St Ives that proved instrumental in his decision to pursue sculpture.

Working initially through drawing, Fox considers not only the physical form of a sculpture but the voids created by its curves, intersections and openings. Lines established on paper are translated into three dimensions, resulting in works that possess a strong sense of rhythm and flow. Positive and negative space become equally important: solid material defines an opening, while the opening in turn becomes an active part of the sculpture.

Balance is fundamental to Fox’s practice. Many of his sculptures are conceived to be rotated, allowing their composition to change as they are viewed from different positions. A curve that appears enclosed from one angle may open completely from another; forms overlap and separate, continually altering the relationship between sculpture, surrounding space and viewer. This encourages an unusually physical engagement with the work and challenges the idea that a sculpture possesses a single definitive viewpoint.

Fox works across bronze, stone, marble and wood, allowing the particular qualities of each material to inform the finished work. Despite the apparent effortlessness of his forms, their construction requires considerable precision, particularly where complex curves, twists and points of balance must operate together as a coherent whole.

There is an evident connection between Fox’s work and the language of twentieth-century British abstraction, yet his sculptures have developed a distinctive character of their own. Elegant without becoming purely decorative, they combine material presence with a surprising sense of lightness and invite slow, contemplative looking. Ultimately, Fox is as interested in the space he leaves untouched as the material from which the sculpture itself is made.