Cox, John Edward
John Cox (born
1973, Nassau, The Bahamas) is a Bahamian artist whose mixed-media paintings and
assemblages use familiar and ordinary objects to reference distant places and
ideas. His mixed media paintings and
assemblages often engage the life cycle of balance—struggle, transcendence, and
acceptance—through simple structural material, ultimately making his artistic
practice a spiritual ritual.
In addition
to his art practice, John is a major personality in the Bahamian art scene,
where his work as an educator, curator, cultural activist and founder of
Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts, has helped grow and
redefine artistic expression in The Bahamas.
Inspired
somewhat by the ‘curious space’ of his childhood home built by Ray Nathaniels, Cox
pursued his interest in space and function as an architecture student at the Rhode
Island School of Design in the early 1990s. However, inspired by his teachers Al DeCredico
and Jack Massey, as well as his RISD peers, Cox found his niche in
illustration. After earning his BFA in
Illustration in 1995, he also completed a Master’s in Art Education in 1996.
Returning
home to Nassau, Cox took up a teaching position at the College of The Bahamas
in 1997, a position which he has held—despite a brief hiatus between 2003-2007
while working as the Education Officer at the National Art Gallery of The
Bahamas—until the present day. Through the years, he has helping to redefine
the curriculum, making him an important figure in the lives of many
up-and-coming Bahamian artists.
In 1999 the
artist founded Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts, a
dynamic, evolving hub for the Bahamian community with artist studio spaces, a
gallery, international, local and student residencies, and education and
programming. Today he remains on board
as its director, helping Popopstudios to support the growth of contemporary
Bahamian art.
In 2012, he
became the Chief Curator at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, where he developed
Bahamian art on a global platform through such exhibitions as the 6th
National Exhibition, Kingdom Come in
2012 and Single Sex and The John Beadle Project in 2013.
In late
2013, Cox became the Creative Art Director for the luxury resort Baha Mar, the
first time a position of this kind had been incorporated in a major economic
investment in The Bahamas. In this role,
he leads a team of artists to ensure that Bahamian artwork takes center stage
in the $3.5 billion tourist development.
Cox’s large
format paintings, found object assemblages, collages and experimental prints
were featured in the groundbreaking 2008 Artists
of The Bahamas documentary and global traveling exhibition, formally
cementing him as an important practicing artist in Bahamian art history.
Besides
exhibiting his work at home in such exhibitions as Kimono (Central Bank of The Bahamas, 1997); I Am Not Afraid of a Perfect Stranger (New Providence Art and
Antiques, 2009); and Negative Space
(Popopstudios ICVA, 2011), Cox has exhibited and participated in exchanges in
France, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States and the Caribbean. He has
also been a part of many international exhibitions including Art Basel in Miami
in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2013; the Ipase
Project in Italy in 2006; Funky
Nassau in Weisbaden Germany in 2006; Wrestling
With the Image in Washington, DC, in 2011; Master Artists of The Bahamas in Waterloo, Iowa, in 2011; and the Volta NY Art Fair in 2014 and 2018.
His work can be found in
the collections at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, The D’Aguilar Art
Foundation, the Lynden Pindling International Airport, and the Dawn Davies
Collection.
