December/January
Cooper Cox: Out Here
Through February 2024
Artist’s reception on Thursday, December 28, 4-7pm
OCHI presents Out Here, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Cooper Cox. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
From a young age, Cooper Cox harbored a fascination with trees, often sketching them in the margins of his schoolbooks. Allured by their elegant forms and endurance, as well as by their symbiotic relationships with neighboring organisms, Cox’s newest paintings feature snags— large, coniferous, upright trees that appear lifeless but serve as essential habitats for wildlife long after losing their leaves and flowers. Like the first line in a charcoal drawing, snags appear exposed, revealing the history of their growth as slow, incremental adjustments rather than sudden change. Snags symbolize strength and adaptability—having survived shifting climates and human interventions, Cox’s snags can occasionally bloom soulful blossoms that reflect senescence’s emotional and physical changes.
In proximity to dramatic landscapes like the Sawtooth Range and Craters of the Moon, the spruce-fir forests of Sun Valley, Idaho, are replete with dense greenery and wildfire-scarred hillsides that bear snags and regrowth. Born and raised in Sun Valley, Cox draws inspiration from these sublime scenes; the paintings in Out Here celebrate Cox’s origins and his resilience and rejuvenation. Rendered in paint and passion, the tension between nostalgia and spiritual growth in Cox’s paintings invites introspection and transcendent hope.
Captions:
Credit: Cooper Cox Portrait by Chris Herity
Ochi Galley
119 Lewis Street | Ketchum
208.726.8746
ochigallery.com
