By limiting color and subject matter for his recent series of paintings, Edinburgh artist Steven Cox leaves only the variations in pattern and the densely worked surface as the focus. Black vertical and horizontal lines interrupt the weathered cream and red expanses of Elegy, drawing attention to a layered painting technique created by Cox that uses oil paint and spray paint. The poetic title prompts the black bars and gestural marks to be read as lines of poetry and repeated stanzas. The visual power of the series derives from the simplicity of the composition and Cox’s exploratory reinterpretations on a single motif.
Steven Cox
ELEGY
2014
oil and spray paint on canvas
72 x 50 x 1 1/2 inches