Scott Troxel, TwoBlues, 2024, Lacquer on Maple

Pigmented satin lacquer on solid maple Scott Troxel draws on the aesthetics of bygone technology and the forward-looking designs of the Atomic Age and mid-century modernism to make dynamic, retro-futurist wooden sculptures that evoke nostalgia as much as they look to the future. Fascinated pieces of technology, culture, and design reveal their age, Scott aims to make works that cannot be pinned to a specific era. Are they new or where they designed and created in the 1950’s? In his latest body of work termed “SMALL POPS” (2023-2024), Troxel focuses on smaller, chunky, modernist, and minimalist inspired work that taps into his mid-century modern sensibility. The Small Pops Series uses 2” deep solid wood combined with bold colour palettes, wood grain and sometimes surface textures. Troxel states “I developed the Small Pops Series as a reaction against the very large commission pieces that I do for my public space projects. These large pieces normally take weeks or months to complete and involve a lot of fabrication. For me the Small Pops offer a type of artistic instant gratification, as I can produce several in a week, due to the size. I can also tweak and play with them, as they are much nimbler to produce.” The common denominator for these pieces are both the retro infused colour palette and the mid-century influence evident in the compositions. Troxel states “I strive to produce work that feels very clean and modern yet has a strong retro futurists nod to the past. I named them "Small Pops" because they are small is size, but they are clunky off the wall and feel much bigger than they are due to pallets, shapes, and way they command the space.” Scott Troxel has exhibited his work at numerous fairs and exhibitions across the United States, including The Other Art Fair in NYC, Texas Contemporary, SCOPE Miami, SOFA Chicago and Art Wynwood. Scott was industrial designer and product developer, graphic artist, and brand manager prior to transitioning to a full-time artist in his early 40’s. His background in commercial products, graphics, design, and aesthetics mirror similar artists like Andy Warhol who honed their artistic skills through real world applications prior to the shift into fine arts. He currently works in his studio and wood shop by the ocean in Southern Coastal New Jersey, near the Philadelphia area, where he was raised. His works are held in corporate, hotel and private collections across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America and can be seen in iconic buildings like The Hotel Del Coronado and The Shard London. The artist predominately works with wood as my base medium, due to its strength, dimension, and organic nature. The inherent texture of wood combined with paint and other man-made materials allow me to capture a sense of time in my work and often combine the feeling of different eras within a single piece. Scott sees this as a direct parallel with human life, as we too grow older and interact with other generations, both younger and older. He particularly inspired by mid-century modernism, where wood and organic shapes were combined with other materials to suggest a type of futurism, though now they are considered vintage. Time has passed on, but these pieces remain in that context of when they were designed. Scott wants this work to feel this way, somewhat nostalgic, aged, and organic with the feeling that it could also be from a future time. In the words of Frank Stella “What you see is what you see”. Ultimately, it is up to the viewer of his work to decide what Scott's pieces convey based on the context of their life experiences and what they bring to the piece.