I make the kind of art I longed to see in museums growing up: large-scale oil paintings of intimate moments between women.
You decide who will appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display their work at The Art of Elysium's Salon!
What I love most is creating lush, layered paintings filled with vivid color, sensual brushwork, fabric, pattern, and symbolic detail. I’m interested in the space where autobiography meets history — where personal experience becomes part of a larger visual archive. I want to create paintings that feel intimate and monumental at the same time — works that hold tenderness without shrinking its power.
Where do you find inspiration?I find inspiration within the work of African-American figurative painters, and how they represent themselves and culture, and I want to do the same for the LGBTQ community in a way that is extremely memorable and iconic.
What would you do with $25,000?If awarded $25,000, I would use the prize to CREATE new larger work, EXPAND the reach of my paintings, and BUILD the practical infrastructure that allows those stories to travel safely and powerfully into the world — including an ART VAN for transporting my large pieces to exhibitions, fairs, and communities. Maybe I could even quit my day job or go on a month-long artist residency abroad like I have longed to do! Vote for the work that carries love, history, and presence into public view!
Vote for Joan Cox to become The People's Artist while supporting a great cause! Cast your free daily vote or make an even bigger impact when you vote by donation, supporting The Art of Elysium in their mission to use art as a catalyst to help people triumph over difficult life challenges.
Register now for your opportunity to appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display your artwork at The Art of Elysium's Salon.
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