His work was recognized by art critic Clement Greenberg, who categorized him as a color field painter, a designation which Boxer rejected.
[1] Art critic Grace Glueck wrote "Never part of a movement or trend, though obviously steeped in the language of Modernism, the abstract painter Stanley Boxer was a superb manipulator of surfaces, intensely bonding texture and color.
"[2] Boxer offered an explanation of his philosophy and working process: In the manufacture of my art, I use anything and everything which gets the job done without any sentiment or sancity as to medium.
Richard Waller, director of the University of Richmond's Harnett Museum of Art, describes his evolution as an artist: You can see the shift from working with figurative imagery in the 1940s and early '50s to abstraction in the late '50s.
In the 1980s, Boxer really hit his stride in larger works with lots of thick paint and splashes of color.