Biography ~ Collections ~ Bibliography

After graduating from the Alberta College of Art, Patrick Cox co-founded a successful illustration and design studio. In 1982 he left the business to paint full time.

Painting with remarkable precision and detail, Cox has established a reputation as a high realist. This style suggests literal representation, yet is markedly interpretive. Working from a foundational concept, Cox does not hesitate to manipulate the elements of composition until only the essential details, shaped to his purpose, remain.

While the intellectual framework underlying a painting is important to Cox, he is not heavy-handed with thematic elements, preferring subtleties that leave viewers free to interact with his work on a personal level.

In human subjects Cox looks not for shallow charm or glamour, but for depth and uniqueness of character. Capturing and intensifying a select moment, his paintings seem to strip away the noise and busyness of life, leaving only the still essence of something humanly significant. The artist’s ability to find the extraordinary in an ordinary scene makes his paintings compelling.

Cox’s art is strongly tied to the land and history of the west, as is his life. In 1880, his Great Grandfather Malcolm Millar traveled up the Missouri River by steamboat to Fort Benton, Montana, and then overland to Canada’s Fort Walsh to join the North West Mounted Police. After serving during the North-West Rebellion, Millar homesteaded near Calgary. He married Helen Shaw who, riding in an oxcart, had come west to Fish Creek with her family in 1883 ahead of the railroad. The spacious log home of Malcolm and Helen became a popular social gathering place, eventually giving rise to the community of Millarville, which adopted the Millar family name.

Washline detail

The artist’s paternal grandfather, Orville Cox, came west in 1897, and married Mary Sophia Aldridge, whose family had arrived in 1888. Orville and Mary farmed a homestead at Twin Butte, where Orville also served as community blacksmith.

Of similar significance is Cox’s maternal Grandfather, Leslie Victor Douglass, who as a young man worked winters for legendary Alberta (then North West Territories) cowboy John Ware before purchasing a ranch of his own. It is the milieu of this rural heritage that provides Cox with much of his artistic inspiration.

But his art does not reflect the stylized, romantic west of popular mythology. Cox’s vision is more authentic. Whether in the ruggedness of an age-gnarled hand, the strength of character underlying a sun-creased face or even in his softer depictions of youth, Cox’s focus tends toward the unaffected, deeper qualities of life. Unpretentious dignity, the reflective moment and the links between past and present are themes that appear often in Cox’s paintings.

Exhibitions

Solo-shows

Feb 2020 Loch Gallery, Calgary Alberta
December 2011 Masters Gallery Ltd. Alberta, 30 Year Retrospective
April-May 1999 - Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, Medicine Hat , Alberta
November 1995 - Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary, Alberta
June - September 1994 - Glenbow Museum , Calgary, Alberta
April 1993 - Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary, Alberta
May 1990 - Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary, Alberta
December 1988 - Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary , Alberta
November 1985 - Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary, Alberta
July - August 1985 - Delta Bow Valley Hotel ‘The Conservatory’, Calgary, Alberta
September 1984 - ‘Art Walk’ Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary, Alberta


Group and Juried Group Shows

July – Aug 2022 "The Best of the Contemporaries" Loch Gallery , Toronto, Ontario
Feb – Apr 2019, Federation of Canadian Artists “Retro”
Mar – June 2019 – Society of Canadian Artists International open online juried Exhibition. Honourable Mention
Feb – Apr 2019 – Federation of Canadian Artists “Retro” online juried Exhibition. 1st place
Dec 2018 – Holiday Exhibition, Masters Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
Nov – Dec 2018 – Federation of Canadian Artists National juried “365” Calendar project and online Exhibition. Work selected for calendar
Aug - Oct 2018 - Federation of Canadian Artists online National juried Exhibition “Limitless”, 1st place
Mar 2018 - Important Canadian Artists, Masters Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
Mar - June, 2018 - Society of Canadian Artists International open online juried Exhibition
Oct - 2017 - Annual International Representational Show, Vancouver. Honourable Mention
Nov - Dec 2017 - Federation of Canadian Artists National juried “365” Calendar project and online Exhibition. 1st place
Aug - Oct 2017 - Federation of Canadian Artists online National juried Exhibition “Limitless”, Honourable mention
Aug - Aug 2017/18 - Art Kudos International online juried Exhibition
Mar - June 2017 - Society of Canadian Artists International open online juried Exhibition, Honourable mention
August 2016 – August 2017 – Art Kudos International online juried Exhibition
Nov – Dec 2016 – Federation of Canadian Artists online Exhibition and Calendar project “365” 1st place
July – Oct 2016 – Federation of Canadian Artists online Exhibition “Limitless” 2nd place
April – July 2016 – Society of Canadian Artists National Open online juried Exhibition
April – July 2015- Society of Canadian Artists online Exhibition, 3rd place
July – Sept 2015- Federation of Canadian Artists online Exhibition “Limitless”, 1st place
August 2015 – August 2016 – Art Kudos International online juried Exhibition
Nov – Dec 2015 – Federation of Canadian Artists online Exhibition “365”, 2nd place
February – May 2014 – Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
May - June 1999 - Landmarks 99, Brooks, Alberta
May - June 1997 - Landmarks 97, Brooks, Alberta
September 1990 - Staff Exhibition, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta
March - April 1989 - Gulf Canada Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
May 1988 (Juried Group) - Celebration of the Arts Exhibition, Red Deer, Alberta