Tomboys, Taboo, Totem: Figurative Paintings on canvas
The most monumental of the paintings in Joan's recent solo exhibition titled, "Side by Side" is a large work of the same title of two well-known activists, Billie Parker and Gay Block, and is based on a photograph taken of the couple in their Santa Fe home. The photo itself was taken by Morgan Lieberman, as part of her documentary project, "Hidden Once, Hidden Twice." This painting is one of several collaborations between the painter and photographer.
Cox is inspired by Lieberman's photographs but gives her painting her own interpretation. She is accomplished at using photographs as initial “sketches;” not everyone is. Lieberman was right to contact Cox who both understands the subject and can make her own contribution. This large painting, installed on an intensely colored, hot pink wall, is one of the most powerful works in the show.
We understand that these two women are comfortable in their lives and relationship. Parker is retired and has been an activist, writer, corporate video producer, and currently serves as an addiction recovery teacher at the Santa Fe County Jail, New Mexico. Her wife, Block, is a well-known portrait photographer with work in numerous museum collections. The women are solid, comfortable in their domestic space, wearing vibrant clothing, sitting on colorful patterned chairs. Their dog is included too, sitting to the right on the floor. The scene, staged and direct, references the ordinary of domesticity, a subject that has filled the canvases of artists in the history of art. But here Cox answers back to museums who have excluded LGBTQ+ subjects on their gallery walls.