Stephen Cox

Biography

Stephen W. Cox (born Orlando, FL) began making visual art and playing guitar as a teenager. A graduate of The Columbus College of Art and Design (Columbus, OH) Cox has participated in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. 

Before college he studied with Barbara Bassett at her Art Workshop in Winter Park Florida where he completed a portfolio that earned a scholarship at CCAD. After College there was graduate coursework and jobs counseling mentally handicapped people, teaching art at a middle school and a community college before working in hospitality service. 

He moved to the East Village neighborhood of New York City in 1990 and found inspiration from the environment of the city and the art that was made near his East Village residence in the mid-20th century. It was his observations of the movement of people through the maze of streets and passages that helped to suggest the direction of his artwork. He worked at some historic restaurants in Manhattan while making visual art and playing guitar.

He played in a local band and formed a trio to play and record his own compositions. He  now works on new compositions and posts videos of his solo guitar performances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTL5niU_vPc

While traveling to an artist residency upstate in 2003 he saw a grouping of trees that struck a chord and inspired a new development in his visual work.

He has regularly contributed to art benefits over many years and has much experience exhibiting in public spaces. Cox settled in Northern Manhattan in 2013 and continues making art and music.

Artist statement

I work through interpretations of the contemporary experience as I believe in the meditative effect on the mind from non-verbal content found in visual art. My inspirations are diverse through the history of art and abstraction. I am also fascinated by the graphic quality of black and white and working on paper. Playing guitar has informed the visual art and there is a sense of fluidity in both. 

My abstractions are about oneness, interconnectedness, unity and inclusion. These ideas serve as an alternative to cultural division. The original idea was to construct a shape from a build up of thin lines. The work also demonstrates the uniqueness of any moment in time, each person, and each piece of art to help define oneness as a collective of individual elements. 

The adoption of working on paper is a practical solution for art production in apartment residential spaces and led to an interest in exploring black and white. The square/rectangular format is a reference to architecture and to the idea of containing the fields of mark making. My interests in color is mostly expressed in painting on canvas and enters many works on paper. Nature provides endlessly varied color offerings and color inspirations. Both the works on canvas and paper have illusory textures that often recall liquid surfaces.

I methodically sweep the image in layers and the overlapping lines suggest the passage of time from the movement of people through a space as if each were leaving a visible trail behind. The image becomes dense with information reflecting the current environment. I maintain a focus on the image while it develops.

The artwork I create maintains a balance between freedom and authority where freedom comes through discipline, respect for limits and others while seeking to involve the viewer's imagination resulting in a reflective, contemplative experience.