Staten Island Arts opened the first solo gallery show of works by poet/sculptor/collage artist John Foxell. Beloved by local residents for decades prior to his December 2016 death, Foxell was known as “the unofficial mayor of Port Richmond.” He was a great friend of the Reformed Church. The exhibit will be on display through April 27, 2019.
The works were created after the events of 9/11, which Foxell witnessed firsthand in lower Manhattan. Curator Norman Brosterman notes “Both macabre and Pop, Foxell’s exuberant, free-wheeling, constructions are assemblages for the 21st century, and uniquely his. A self-taught artist, he created new work every day of his last decade, building an entire world from the cast-off toys and random detritus collected on his daily walks and weekly flea market forays. John Foxell lived an extraordinarily varied life of genuine eccentricity and compulsive creativity.”