About Joan Cox

I create paintings and images that I wish I could have seen growing up; realities that echo my own and let me know that I am not only valid but also not wicked or simply confused for being myself - a lesbian.

From the moment I paint a figure on a canvas, I enter into a complex dialogue with the long history of figurative painting utilizing the male gaze that fills museums, galleries and our visual memories. My work fits into this context of identity politics, with equal parts feminist agenda and lesbian narrative and taking the route of translating my own autobiography into a sort of composed fiction. These lush narrative essays present the viewer with richly symbolic images of intimate relationships between two women, acknowledging and emphasizing the female gaze. I draw on my own life with my partner of eleven years as well as the intimate lives of lesbian couples in my community to build visual narratives that champion our undeniably intense, complex, celebratory and (still) taboo relationships.

I take photographic portraits of couples, often in a constructed pose that I have mined from an existing painting or photograph. With this process, I enter into dialogue with artists who have come before me by appropriating compositional elements of their works. The chosen historical works often depict male/female couples who are then replaced with two women, although some of the women are very androgynous looking. Blurring the lines between female and male identities makes gender distinctions more ambiguous and challenges viewers’ expectations.

Through borrowing and building upon powerful, recognizable iconography, my work alters the narrative and subverts the erotic moments between the figures. In “Our Dream,” I paint two women reclining together as in Courbet’s “The Sleepers” but my women are not sleepily on display for the male-viewer, they are consumed with one another. I added the shape of the vase from the Courbet painting into a composition that otherwise resembles Rousseau’s The Dream in which a single nude female reclines on a sofa in the heart of an imaginary jungle. I paint the dream-like lush jungle for the couple in the painting to inhabit together. In “Origin of the Family,” I present an intimate bedroom scene — a double portrait of a lesbian couple. An androgynous figure, fully clothed in her signature plaid shirt and her lover, fully nude and pregnant, both look straight out of the canvas, owning their own intimate space and relationship proudly and contentedly.

Because the lesbian perspective has been denied so long in painting, I have been looking at ways in which African American painters work to present their Otherness. Figurative artists such as Barkley Hendricks, Kerry James Marshall and Mickalene Thomas make socially relevant paintings through the complex investigation of cultural norms, racial and sexual identity and body politics. Similarly, I strive to validate the presence of dynamic, complex, sensual, sexual and loving relationships between women—making them less taboo.

2024 EXHIBITIONS

Portraits Project
A nine-movement oratorio performance paired with nine portraits and choreographed dance.
Premiered at the Kennedy Center on June 16, 2024 and performed again at Gala Chorus in Minneapolis, MN on July 13, 2024 by the Gay Men's Chorus of DC and the 17th Street Dance company, Washington, DC!

Read STORY from DC City Paper
Read STORY from Washington Blade

JUNE Baltimore, MD — Gallery Blue Door at Emmanuel
JUNE Bethesda, MD — Pride Repped at Extend Yoga
JUNE Ventura, CA – The Pink Tide at Dama Gallery
JULY San Diego, CA — PROUD+ at The Studio Door exhibiting "Duo Totem" and selected as Best in Show

AUGUST Washington, DC —Sapphic Gaze, Solo Exhibition at IA&A at Hillyer
Sapphic Gaze presents a compelling series of vibrant, life-size portraits that delve into the intimate lives of women-loving women. Drawing from her 23-year relationship and the experiences of lesbian couples in her community, Joan Cox crafts visual narratives that champion intense, celebratory, and nuanced relationships. By reimagining historical art compositions with personal narratives and lush, symbolic imagery, Joan challenges the historical absence of lesbian representation in Western art. Her paintings are a canvas of affirmation, celebrating the dynamic and complex intimacies between women, which have long been overlooked or taboo. Through this exhibition, Joan showcases the beauty and complexity of sapphic love and aims to affirm these relationships, recognizing them for their intrinsic value and significant place in contemporary society.

California Women Artists Making their Mark ONLINE exhibition, July 23 to October 1, 2024
SEPTEMBER Baltimore, MD — Baltimore MetGala Fashion & Art Event September 14, 2024
SEPTEMBER Boston, MA — Heirloom Convoy: 4th Annual MassArt Alumni Exhibition '24, AUG 31 - OCT 20, opening reception Friday, Sept 6th and closing reception Friday, Oct 4th, 2024 at MassArt x SoWa
OCTOBER Rochester, NY Queering Democracy: Art, Identity, and Politics in 2024 October 4 - November 16, 2024 at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) in partnership with ImageOut Art Opening Reception: First Friday, October 4, 6-9pm
OCTOBER Mexico City Efimero: Vida, Muerte, y Arte at Juan Rulfo Cultural Center, Opening Reception: First Friday, October 4, 6-9pm

2023 EXHIBITIONS

"Earthquake Picnic"
MassArt X SoWa Gallery
Boston, Massachusetts, August 26 – October 15
3rd Annual Alumni Group Exhibition at Massachusetts College of Art & Design

"The Inevitability of Absence"
Culture Lab at the Plaxall Gallery
Long Island City, New York, August 31 – November 19
Curated by Tess Howsam and featuring the immersive performance, “The Incomplete Collection” by Linked Dance Theatre.

"I am here"
Studio Montclair Gallery
Montclair, New Jersey, September 15 – October 20
A collaboration with OutMontclair at the Studio Montclair Gallery that explores what it means to be queer and be ourselves.

"Nor'Easter: The 53rd Annual Juried Members Exhibition"
New Britain Museum of American Art
New Britain, Connecticut, September 21 — October 8, 2023
This prominent show highlights the exceptional work of emerging artists in all media in a museum setting.

"Artscape B23"
Artscape Baltimore Gallery Space
16 W North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, September 22 — 24, 2023
Artscape will include visual art exhibitions, main stage music
performances, culinary delights, community gathering spaces, immersive family & youth experiences, an artist marketplace, and so much more!

"Diversity Lives Here: Representation Through Art"
Monmouth University Art Center
West Long Branch, NJ, March 15, 2023 – January 1, 2024
These artworks create spaces devoted to celebrating diversity, inclusivity, and representation on the Monmouth University campus. The aim of this project is to foster a greater sense of community, and ensure that all feel welcome on our campus.

In this Body of Mine
MassArt x SoWa Gallery
Boston, Massachusetts, June 10 - July 16
Curators: Liz Faust and Joan Cox

QueerWerks
Silvermine Art Gallery, New Canaan, Connecticut, June 1 - July 13
Curator: Stamatina Gregory, Head Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, NYC

Bmore Amplified
Baltimore City Hall Galleries, June 7 - August 31, Baltimore, Maryland
Curators: Alysha Page, Katie Rickman and Joan Cox
2022 GROUP EXHIBITS

13th Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Exhibition
Lore Degenstein Gallery
November 5–December 11, 2022, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA
Juror: Mira Gerard

Women Artists Making Their Mark
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
August 15 – November 6, 2022, Mill Valley, California
Jurors: DONNA SEAGER & SUZANNE GRAY
Online Catalog

35th September Competition Exhibition
Alexandria Museum of Art
July 8 – October 8, 2022, Alexandria, Lousiana
www.instagram.com/p/Ch-EhTQNflf/Interview
Juror: Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein

Unmasked, A Contemporary Portrait Exhibition
The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences(LBIF)
July 16 – August 14, 2022, Long Beach Island, New Jersey (first place prize)
Juror: Dr. Jessica Todd Smith, Susan Gray Detweiler Curator of American Art and Manager of the Center for American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art

By and About Women II
The Regional Center for Women in the Arts
April - Dec 2022, Westtown, Pennsylvania (third prize winner)

PROUD+ 2022, 5th Annual National LGBTQIA Exhibition
The Studio Door Gallery
June4–July 30, 2022, San Diego, California Digital Catalog
CURATED by Alyssa Nitchun, Executive Director,
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art

Show Your Pride
Artworks Gallery
Ware, Massachusetts (best composition prize)

Celebrating the Figure
Artworks Gallery
April 9 - April 30, 2022, Ware, Massachusetts

Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair Catalyst Contemporary booth
April 28–May 1, 2022, Baltimore, Maryland

Who We Are: Portraying Identity
Cabrillo Gallery
Juried by Pauli Ochi of Ochi Projects, Los Angeles
March 7 – April 8, 2022, Santa Cruz, California
Media Coverage

Surface In/Sight: Printmaking Today
Core New Art Space
March 11 - March 27, 2022, Lakewood, Colorado

Empowerment vs. Exploitation
The Cultural Center of Cape Cod
February 8 – March 26, 2022, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts
CURATED by Molly Demeulenaere


PAST EXHIBITIONS
Frauenhaus
Catalyst Contemporary
523 N Charles Street, Baltimore, 21201, November 14th, 2019 - January 11th, 2020
CURATED by Liz Faust and Brian Miller

Art Miami
Catalyst Contemporary
December 1 - 5, 2021, Miami, Florida

Amplify
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art
July 17, 2021 - October 24, 2021, Virginia Beach, VA
CURATED by Alison Byrne and Heather Hakimzadeh

Amplify focuses on the experiences of woman-identifying artists in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Virginia MOCA curators have connected with curatorial colleagues and asked them to share their recommendations of woman-identifying artists who are exploring identity and the gendered roles of women. Constructs regarding a woman’s identity can be complicated and loaded with political agendas and nuances; yet they are also fascinating, beautiful, and filled with joy when embraced in all their forms. Through a variety of media and approaches, the artists in Amplify explore some of the many aspects of what it is to be a woman. They reveal common themes from an intersectional, and deeply personal lens.

Organized by the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Curated by Alison Byrne, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Education, & Heather Hakimzadeh, Curator.

Tomboy solo exhibition
Function
January 11 - March 28, 2019

Taboo solo exhibition
Silber Art Gallery, Goucher College in Maryland
Sept. 22 - Dec 8, 2013
CURATED by Laura Amussen

You can view all of the work and installation photos of Taboo on the Baker Artist Award nomination website.