Charcoal Drawing by Ian Cox
Tamarisk
Ian Cox
For the most part, my limited-edition relief lino prints, created from my photography, drawing and 'accidental' mark-making, are inspired by my love for, and experience of, the wilder parts of the Devon and Cornwall landscape.
In particular, I am inspired by: landscapes with secrets man-made marks made long ago, that have managed to survive into our time the way landscape is sometimes more ceremonial than it is wholly natural the curious multi-track behaviour of time my sense of space despite my inability to perceive it in its true state the way my memories masquerade as a true narrative, rather than an almost-wholly imagined one the often-serendipitous relationship between coincidence and forgetfulness minor, rather than major chords - especially when they can be seen, rather than heard My background is in client-led commercial illustration and design. which may be why I find the idea of commissioning my own work both exhilarating, and occasionally challenging.
It took printmaking a long time to find me - although I may not have been ready had our paths crossed earlier, but it now feels like the creative relationship I've been searching for all my life. My approach to my work is intense and absorbing - I spend tens of hours on each print, cutting the lino in what, to some, appears to be an almost excruciatingly detailed way - but I've always been fascinated by techniques involve minute detail - as if that detail might contain the often-elusive spirit of the subject I have chosen.
For me, my work process is as absorbing as it is almost all-consuming, as creative as it is potentially self-destructive, and as life-affirming as it is a constant personal challenge to understand the point of my presence on the planet.
Original Charcoal Drawing
121x90cm approx
Framed under glass