Encompass Painting

Stephen Michael Cox is an artist working in the Oklahoma City area. Growing up in Muskogee, Ok, he found himself increasingly interested in creative endeavors. Stephen attended Oklahoma State University - Institute of Technology where he studied Graphic Design. This helped shape the ideas and approach of his artistic style. Working as a graphic designer has given him many ideas and tools to use in the fine art realm. Stephen's voice as an artist can be traced to the mid-century Abstract Expressionists. With artist such as Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline, and Richard Diebenkorn being influential. In his pictures, the paint moves in, out, and through each other bringing to life the idea that our lives are always going somewhere. Particularly, the emotional and spiritual journey. Stephen captures what the emotional and spiritual part of life would look like if we could see what is going on. Having dealt with anxiety for a good portion of my life, my work is a space where I can put a visual definition to what those feelings are. Emotions can be loud or soft and also merge with other emotions. Our spiritual journeys are equally complex! Bringing a visual language to those parts of life is why I paint. My work is created by applying acrylic paint with primarily brushes and squeegees on canvas and then streched by hand. Each piece starts from an idea or tangible thing, and that is then deconstructed as layers of paint are added. With this method, each viewer can bring their own interpretations and feelings to what they are seeing. Beauty can be found in frantic strokes of color and also a single field of it.