See Val's creation on:
July 13 & 14 2018
Val M. Cox lives and paints in Pittsburgh’s South Side where he continues his ongoing series, form/unformed.
He trained by painting on his own in combination with graphic design and illustration for his family’s business. Works in oil on canvas predominate among his paintings although he continues to work on paper. Work in digital media now holds an expanding place in his work. His work includes individual, non-commissioned work as well as space-specific commissions with paintings in private, corporate, and institutional collections worldwide. He has regularly exhibited in solo and group exhibits since the 1960s. Book illustration and graphic design continue in his work.
In the early 1970she joined the Taliesin Fellowship of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation where he continued creative work in the visual arts and as harpsichordist. In the mid-1980s he resumed independent, full-time painting and sculpture that continues today.
Since the early 1980s Cox has worked on a continuing series in oil on canvas, form/unformed. He describes these works as "multi-planar: a synthesis of painting and sculpture in which the surfaces of paintings are contoured and shaped, sometimes composed of multiple panels to form a single canvas." Cox says the series developed from his desire to find forms that "participate in the space of their environment. They impinge on surrounding space and encourage viewers to move in space. As with sculpture, no single vantage point reveals the entire painting. People must move to see everything. Since the series uses space as a medium I describe the media as ‘oil/canvas/space.’"
Although a musician with a background in early music keyboard performance and writer/editor with love of the word, intentional silence characterizes his visual work: It has no titles and conveys no content that can be spoken about or heard.
His silent, visual work can join together with music, however, as has happened on the PNME stage in the past. He comments that "for me, paintings and music can be perfect companions: conduits from which viewers/listeners can infuse and nourish everyday experience with abstract substance—especially when the paintings are heard and the music seen.”
Banner art: Form 18.001
"What I Leave Behind" graphic:
Painting: "I Love You This Much" by Scott Hunter
Photo: Alisa Garin Photography