20/20 Vision

The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

Julian Cox

My subject is the human figure. The human image has immense power and elicits profound psychological and emotional responses in the viewer. In working with the figure subject, I try to identify and represent beauty as expressed by images of the body while remaining aware of the social implications of such images.  My agenda embodies love and respect for my subject and for my fellow humans. For me, the human image is sacred and unique subject matter. I think that artists’ societal role is to help us learn about ourselves, hopefully to our collective benefit.

As an artist and printmaker I work from a continuous series of drawings which I selectively refine and use to make print matrices, mostly in woodcut and metal plate intaglio. When I draw, I work from models, from photographs and I invent figure compositions. I tend to work on a general theme, the resulting prints are completed in suites of related works. In this way I study the ideas contained in the themes and learn more about what I intend to say with my work.

Currently I am examining the themes of human conflict and religion which I believe to be inextricably linked for much of mankind. My etching in this exhibition is the title print of a suite called: “L’Homme Armee” after the title of a medieval folk song. The image of the armed man is a topic which I am studying through various figure compositions. I am interested in the effects upon the appearance of the figure of weapons, armor, fatigue uniforms and other protective gear and in the statements that these accoutrements make about the human body.