Brooksville gallery to host painter's Florida debut
Rory Cox's exhibit opens Saturday at the DanceGallery at New Millennia Studio.
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT
Published November 28, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - This weekend, a Chicago artist will bring his unique perspective to a Hernando County audience.
An exhibit highlighting the works of Rory Cox, whose paintings are signed simply "rory,' will open Saturday with a reception for the artist.
"I loved his work from the moment I saw it," said Robert DeWitt, artistic director and owner of Brooksville's New Millennia Studio, where the paintings will be displayed.
"The color, meaning and expression were so vivid. I felt like I had been looking at something that should be on display to a greater audience. It's timeless."
On Saturday, Cox will be on hand for a reception celebrating his Florida debut.
Like inspiration borne of seemingly hopeless situations, Cox said he finds beauty in the way different venues affect the character of his works through the intensity and quality of lighting.
"That's one thing that you just really can't control," said Cox, 38. "The way the colors vary with the lighting is as much a function of the layering technique as it is the fixtures or the facility."
Though subtle, Cox said these changes, brought on by thin layers of acrylic paint, give a translucent effect to the colors and can greatly change the flavor of a painting.
"When you see her in a very amber light, the yellows under the reds come out," he said of Bitterness, painted earlier this year. "Under white light she becomes distant. Under amber she seethes, both of which are human responses when bitterness sets in."
Another painting, Friends Talk, explores the concept of loneliness in a crowd, the calm face of one man highlighted against a frenetic scene.
While working as a bartender for six years, Cox said he gained a unique perspective on the world from behind a counter.
"You are very much in the backdrop," he said of the 2001 painting. "That gives you a dehumanized feeling, but it also gives you a really interesting perspective."
Though his works are not overwrought with religious imagery, Cox said his life as the son of a pastor heavily influenced his perspective on the world.
"I was taking typical situations and creating something that almost had a stain glassed look," said Cox of the often blocky figures prevalent in his earlier works. "That alone gave it a religious overtone."
The showing, rory@The DanceGallery, marks the first exhibit in the studio's new DanceGallery, which functions as a gallery as well as rehearsal and dance space for the adjacent black box theater.
More than anything, Cox said, he is interested in creating a dreamlike atmosphere with his paintings - a place to become visually lost.
"I don't think artwork has done its job unless it makes you think of something beyond the canvas," he said.
- Joy Davis-Platt can be reached at 352 848-1435. Send e-mail to joy@sptimes.com
If you go
WHAT: Reception and exhibit for Chicago artist Rory Cox
WHERE: DanceGallery at New Millennia Studio, 316 S Broad St., Brooksville
WHEN: Reception is at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and exhibit will continue through the end of January. The public is invited.
FOR INFORMATION: E-mail DanceGallery@msn.com or to RSVP for the reception, call 352 592-0184.
