JOAN COX
joan@joancoxart.comMy work is reflective of my personal life, passions, experiences and otherness. I use narrative, symbolism, fantasy, and autobiography to depict a taboo intimacy between women — a subject that has been explored in photography far more extensively than in painting. I am inspired by the painterly approaches to the figure by artists such as Peter Doig, Daniel Richter, Dana Schutz, Xenia Hausner and Kerry James Marshall. I am drawn to fantastical elements of costumes, parades and carnivals for their magical and symbolic qualities. I subscribe to a pervading optimism and overall celebratory tone in my works.
I am currently an MFA candidate in a low-residency program through Massachusetts College of Art and Design that allows me the freedom to work with Baltimore and DC area mentors while giving me the opportunity for intensive month-long residencies in Provincetown, MA twice a year. I will graduate with a thesis exhibition in September, 2013.
The active tension of my work exists in the space between the figure on the canvas and the viewer in front of the canvas. I create a delicate balance between the physical qualities of the paint and perceptual qualities of the final image. The surface of a painting and the occasional abstract passages of background interest me as much as the figure itself.
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