Cooper Cox

Cooper Cox is a New York–based painter whose work explores the intersections of contemporary landscape and technological imaging. Working in oil, Cox builds richly textured surfaces by layering dense paint over flattened grounds to hallucinatory effect. His compositions are hybridized constructions; scenes of nature that are formed in collaboration with tools of augmented reality. Drawing from a romantic vernacular of landscape painting and his own experience growing up in the Intermountain West, Cox’s work blurs distinctions between kitsch and the parapastoral, scenes that wander an uncanny valley between the natural and synthetic. The optically charged works invite prolonged looking, proposing painting as an experiential site where technology, perception and myth coalesce.

Cooper Cox (b. 1978, Sun Valley, Idaho) received his dual BA in philosophy and sociology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He spent the earlier part of his artistic career directing Outside Magazine shows & events and in his creative design firm collaborating with brands including Hermès, Tom Ford, and Nike. Cox’s paintings have been exhibited at venues including Gavlak Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; The Bunker Artspace in West Palm Beach, FL; OCHI and the Sun Valley Museum of Art in Sun Valley, ID; Harkawik in New York, NY, Harper's in New York, NY and Bankok, Thailand. His work has been featured and reviewed in publications including Surface, Whitehot Magazine, Here + There, Architectural Digest, Idaho Mountain Express, and Cool Hunting. Cox lives and works between Brooklyn, NY and Sun Valley, ID.