Born in Indianapolis, Joe Cox became interested in art in high school and studied first at the John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and then at the University of Iowa. He received commissions for two post office murals and six other murals for the Tennessee Valley Authority. After teaching at several different universities, Cox accepted a position at the University of North Carolina in 1954, where he remained for twenty years. During this period he continued to work at easel painting and murals, receiving commissions from corporate and university clients in the region. He became known as a leading art educator across the state of North Carolina.(Industrial Scene)(Abstract Landscape, 1960)
Critical Analysis
Cox's New Deal murals adhered to the standard style of the American Scene, depicting agriculture in his murals for Alma, Michigan, and railroad construction for the one in Garrett, Indiana. His post-War work became freer, more abstract and more experimental. His easel paintings were characterized by the Gallery C in Raleigh as "distinctive for their use of thin washes of color and rhythmic line drawing." Some of these paintings were representational, but many moved toward complete geometric abstraction. Cox's murals began to incorporate materials such as stained glass, anodized aluminum, and cast stone. One mural at North Carolina State University was comprised of a wall of spotlights illuminating a series of colored gels.
