Interview with Cedric Michael Cox
Cedric Michael Cox, Summer Sunset by the River, 2020, Acrylic on canvas
Cedric Michael Cox is best known for his paintings and drawings that merge surrealism and representational abstraction. Cox’s paintings catapult color into rhythmic action with abstract and recognizable images that create compositions inspired by themes in music and the natural world. His work remains true to sharing Cox’s innermost self as his passion radiates from the canvas. Working under several influences which include architecture and art history, Cox’s work ranges from the geometric, to the curvilinear, to floral-like forms, all dancing within surrealistic shapes. In addition to his work being in corporate collections, Cox has executed several large-scale public murals as well as murals in various public and private schools in The Cincinnati Region.
Past exhibitions: Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, Weston Art Gallery, Columbus Art Museum, Dayton Art Institute, Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn, Museum of Science and Industry and Gallery Guichard in Chicago, and The Taft Museum of Art. In 2019, Cox’s work was on exhibit at 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati, and in 2020, he had a solo exhibition at James Ratliff Gallery in Sedona, Arizona. He recently had a 20-year retrospective exhibition at Caza Sikes Gallery and installed a body of commissioned work at the New Kinley Hotel Cincinnati and in 2021, a series of 64 paintings for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital were installed. Throughout his career, Cox’s work has been featured in books, magazines, and on television.
Read our interview below to get a glimpse into Cedric Michael Cox’s creative journey.
Could you tell us the intention behind your artwork?
The paintings and drawings I create are intended to build bridges between the past, present, and future for both individuals and ALL groups of people, through stylistic ideas and expressions that crossover into many is genres. Historically, my interest in art draws from cubism at the beginning of the 20th century. In contemporary terms, I have been noted to create images that relate to elements of urban architecture, highlighting areas of the city in which I lived and worked. My intention was to create a kind of architectonic lyricism. Much of my work still combines elements of cubism and deconstructionism, thus combining my interests in the musical composition and its relationship to my visual world. A change in rhythm can be compared to a change in line, weight, brushstroke, value, and pitch.
Cedric Michael Cox, Upward Possibilities, 2022, Acrylic on canvas
Though my work has characteristics of abstract art, I encourage my viewers to reexamine material culture through my art; therefore, my abstraction is not totally non-objective. It is semi-abstraction. In recent years my work has increasingly transitioned into bolder, brighter color, as a shift in mood and tempo create drawings that originate as studies and become important to my process. The forms seem to grow like plants and flowers interweaving together in my vivid pictorial arena. While incorporating shapes that reference biomorphic forms in nature and internal human anatomy, I combine recognizable imagery placed in natural and man-made environments to create paintings that celebrate the enduring positive spirit of humanity through passionate color. This use of vibrant color adds a dreamy and playful quality to my work.
As a child, I possessed the passion to put my interpretation of the world around me on paper, later forging those images into paintings. I want the child I once was to be represented in my paintings on a visceral level, and at the same time express the refinement of a maturing culmination. The personal becomes the universal. Art is an important way for me to communicate and subsequently build relationships with others. My work is a spiritual testimony to the visual experiences that arouse my senses. As I examine and interpret the world around me, I seek to share an exquisite interplay of subtle and bold.
What impact does abstraction have on the way your messages are interpreted?
Working in my unique abstract language, I have had the privilege of engaging with vast diverse audiences that interpret my paintings in many ways. The bright pallet that I use along with rhythmic movement of color tends to evoke joyful responses. Because my Abstract work tends to have references to familiar shapes within the work, my audience can become even more connected to each piece and offer their own personal relationship with my art.
Artist Contact Info
Website: cedricmichaelcox.com