David Boxer

David Boxer studied in the United States, receiving an A.B. in art history from Cornell University in 1969, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1972 and 1975 respectively. He is director emeritus and chief curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica. Boxer has participated in more than 50 group exhibitions in Jamaica, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe, among them shows at the Bass Museum in Miami, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as the Second Biennial of Havana. He has had solo exhibitions in Jamaica, New York, Los Angeles, and in Washington, D.C., at the Art Museum of the Americas. He was named Commander of the Order of Distinction by the Governor of Jamaica, and has received awards including a Gold Medal at the 1992 Biennial of Painting of Central America and the Caribbean, and both the Centenary Medal and Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica. Since 1980, the theme of slavery has figured prominently in Boxer's art, with a diagram of a slave ship used frequently in his work in various forms. His recent work, using photocopies and videos with images from Jamaican television, is meant to be "virtually disposable and cost effective,” part of Boxer's self-described revolt against commercialism in Jamaican art.