About

Art Statement 2022

The English landscape painter John Constable said we see nothing truly until we understand it.

I am drawn to photograph landscapes that pose questions. I am interested in how land use, agriculture, geology, weather, industry, climate change and plate tectonics all influence and unfold as visual clues within landscape. How time is marked pulls me into a particular place as landscape operates in our subconscious, sometimes existing out of the corner of the eye, yet occupying the base note to human existence. I begin with, “what went on here? Why does it look like this? And how does it feel?”, when delving in to my place-based projects.

Bio
 

Cox grew up in the UK port of Southampton. Later he attended two attended art schools in England. His desire to explore new horizons drew him to California where his black & white post-industrial prints were exhibited. Later, settling in Los Angeles, he trained as a master black and white analogue printer before going on to establish himself as a fine art photographer.

Fascinated by the overflowing void of desert landscapes, his photography has often centered on  both cold and hot deserts.
 
His ten-year project at the Salton Sea, CA — was exhibited in Los Angeles and London, then large prints of Icelandic landscapes were exhibited at the Húsavík Museum in Iceland in Los Angeles galleries.  Cox’s durational projects have centered on entropy, decay and the aftermath of human activity  – Cox’s series on a 700 year-old decaying English manor house was shown at PHOTOLA, and a seven-year project capturing the decline of the ocean liner was presented at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.  A time-based photography installation was exhibited at The Factory, in Iceland summer 2021 and his diana-camera prints in his series Terra Figmenta exhibited in 2022 in the Westfjords and California locations.


 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Snow Drawings, Fabrik Gallery, Culver City, CA 2018

Museum of Ennui, ShoeBox Projects 2018

Right Here Far Away, HUSAVIK MUSEUM, Husavik, Iceland 2017

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Terra Sylva, LA ArtCore Brewery Annex, 2023 (photography)

DOT show, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023 (mixed media)

Blue Hour: Above and Below, curated by Kim Abeles, Warehouse One, San Pedro, 2023 (mixed media)

Snow Drawing, ThinkingAboutPhotography.com, Theme: Water, curated by Ann Mitchell, online with 6 artists, 2023

“Perceive me”, group show curated by Kristine Schomaker, Coastline College Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA October 2022

Terra Figmenta, Academy of the Senses, Icelandic Art Center, Westjords Iceland Summer 2022

Size Matters, Terra Figmenta, Medium Photo at Sparks Gallery, San Diego, Spring 2022

The Art of Transformation, Visionary Art Collective, Brooklyn, online 2022

“Perceive me”, group show curated by Kristine Schomaker, MOAH, Museum of Art & History, Lancaster, CA 2021-2

Velocity of decline, photographic installation, The FACTORY, Djúpavik, Iceland summer 2021

Celebrating Matter, MATTER STUDIO GALLERY, Los Angeles, CA 2020

Perceive me, CAL STATE LA, 2020

Reflecting Matter, MATTER STUDIO GALLERY, Los Angeles, CA 2019

One Louder, 11 photographers on LA, NEUTRA INSTITUTE, (curated by Dulce Stein) Silver Lake, CA 2018

California Rising, Fabrik Projects, Culver City, 2017

Salton Sea: Past, Present, Future, UC Riverside, Palm Desert, CA 2017

The Solbrekka Show, Fjuk Art Centre, Húsavík, Iceland, 2016

LAND: Interactions Pasadena Photography Arts at Keystone Gallery, Los Angeles, 2015

Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere, FotoFreo 2012 and FORM present an epic survey of international contemporary photography, Freemantle, Australia, March 2012

ART FAIRS

Photo Independent, The Reef, Los Angeles, CA 2017

Photo LA, Sarah Lee PROJECTS, The Reef, Los Angeles, CA 2015

COLLABORATIONS

Call @ Response, collaboration with distance. Shoe Box collaborations with Kristine Schomaker, Francisco Alvarado, Diane Cockerill, 2020

Landscape images projected for Icelandique, operatic/photographic, music: O-Lan Jones, mezzo soprano: Gretchen Johnson, Cello: Nicole Calhoun, 2016

Landscape images Included in Open Desert Music and Photographic Arts Showcase, by Cristopher Cichocki, The Annenberg Theatre, Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA 2016

Shared Skies, by Kim Abeles, an exhibit of digital prints of sky photographs from artists throughout the world, Art-Science Gallery of the National Science for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado 2014

RESIDENCIES

GilsfjordurArts, Kroksfjardarnes, Iceland August 2021

GilsfjordurArts, Kroksfjardarnes, Iceland Sept 2019

Fjuk Art Centre, Husavik, Iceland, February – March 2016

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

Hollyhock House, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, CD-13 Echo Park, Los Angeles 2015

Harbour View, Los Angeles Maritime Museum commissioned wall mural for permanent display 2015

PRESENTATIONS

Artist’s Talk, Hlunnindasyning, Reykholar, Iceland, May 2019

Artist’s Talk, Snow Drawing, Fabrik Projects, Los Angeles, July 2018

Artist’s Talk, Pasadena Photography Arts, Pasadena, 2016

Artist’s Talk, Keystone Gallery, Los Angeles, 2015

Artists’ talk, Photographer’s Eye: Los Angeles Central Library, 2015

INTERVIEWS

Interview, Voyage LA 2023

Podcast interview by Erick and Jenny on Wallflowers in Bloom. October 2020 Episode 16 – Landscapes and Maritime Imaginings with Photographer Martin Cox

ShoutOutLA online magazine Nov 2020. Meet Martin Cox | Artist, Photographer & Artist Residency Founder

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (with Honors), Exeter College of Art & Design, UK

Fine Art Foundation course, Winchester School of Art, UK

ARTICLES, PUBLICATIONS

Snow Drawing, ThinkingAboutPhotography.com, Theme: Water, curated by Ann Mitchell, online with 6 artists, 2023

Visionary Art Collective, print magazine Issue no.4 November 2022

Interview: Artist in Lockdown by Sergio Gomez, Chicago, 2020

URVOR Magazine, interview, artist and residency founder Martin Cox, Westfjords, Iceland 2019

LISTAMANNAHÚS Á GILSFJARÐARBREKKU, BB.is Westfjords Iceland publication, July 2018

Martin Cox: Visual Poetry Both Epic and Haiku, Diversions LA by Genie Davis July 2018

Featured Artist Martin Cox, VoyageLA, June 2018

Martin Cox’s Museum of Ennui in The Closet at Shoebox Projects, Art & Cake Contemporary Art Magazine, May 2018

An Interview with Photographer Martin Cox – Iceland, Outerspace and Humanity by Sophia Groves, Nordic Style Magazine, June 2017

Lenscratch – Fine Art Daily, Martin Cox: Cold Desert interview by Aline Smithson, August 2017.

Our Ever Changing World: Through the Eyes of Artists #4 Artists, ART & Stories (Volume 4) by Karrie Ross 2016

Lenscratch – Fine Art Daily, Martin Cox: LANDED review by Aline Smithson, May 2015

The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide (New York). A bimonthly journal of history, culture and politics Volume 20, Issue 3: June 2013

Lenscratch- Fine Art Daily, review by Aline Smithson, Feb 2011

AFFILIATIONS

Latitude for Art, Founder and Board of Directors 2019-present

LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Board of Directors 1995-97

LALOP, Los Angeles League of Photographers, Board of Directors 2004-2006

COLLECTIONS

Húsavík Museum, Los Angeles Maritime Museum, Haley Barker, Fabrik Projects (Chris Davies), Studio For Southern California History, California Wilderness Coalition, Sarah Lee (Sarah Lee Projects), David Fraire (Metro Gallery), Robin Blackmon (Fototeka Gallery), Michael Hale (HaleArts Space), Sara Jane Boyers, Paris Barclay,  John & Lynn Pleshette, David & Diana Jacobs, Paul Reiser, Robert Greenbaum.