A simultaneous fascination with detail and uncluttered open spaces led to an unusual combination of the two for Nigel (NJ) Cox, an Irish born artist now living and working in London.
Cox calls his stye Photorealistic Minimalism, and gives a description here of its inception and of the original work that started him on this particular path.
The majority of his recent paintings in that style are of figures walking away from the viewer, prone and foreshortened, or otherwise positioned so that their faces are not a prominent part of the composition, forcing you to see the figure as a figure, not a portrait. This is not only an unusual compositional choice but a contrast to Cox’s other emphasis which is portraiture.
You can browse through pages of thumbnails on his site, either from the home page or the Paintings page, and can continue to click through the larger images in the pop-up window.
For even larger versions of his work, including the image above, top, “The Black Basque” (larger version here), see Cox’s blog, Paintings from the Street, which also includes work not shown in his primary site.
Cox paints in oil on linen, and works in the traditional method of layers of glazes.
