Brooklyn painter Colleen Cox’s fifth solo exhibition will be on view at Hackett-Freedman Gallery July 9–27, 2002. Known for her intimate still life paintings, Cox’s deceptively simple compositions, saturated colors, and rich texture elevate the common still life objects she depicts and bestow them with an emotional resonance.

In these new works, Cox pares down and continues to tighten her compositions in a search for simplicity amidst the chaos of modern life. Using plain, familiar objects—fruit, flowers, bowls, tablecloths—gathered from her immediate surroundings, Cox explores the extraordinary in the ordinary; her works act as soothing meditations on everyday life. Trading light backgrounds for moodier grays, Cox further inspires calmness with her move to a more somber pallet.

Peaches in a White Bowl (10" x 10 1/4", 2001) shows evidence of these subtle shifts. A plain white bowl holds a cluster of the soft, ripe fruit while a lone peach rests, leaves limp, on an ochre tablecloth.

Serenity is maintained even the more complex Still Life with Mangos and Plums (also 2001), which features densely gathered mangos on a plate set close to a bowl full of plums with a few lemons and plums lying just off the plate on the tabletop. The ripe fruits are well ordered and appear to be at rest; the lemon in the foreground lies on its side, its leaves sag off the top of the table. The work however, is also informed with a sense of vitality and youthful promise; the fruit is plump, and full of life.

As in the past, Cox employs a delicate brushstroke to hard masonite panels, giving her works a velvety texture. This use of surface creates a dynamic between the reality of the paint and the illusion of the objects. This technique, Cox’s choice of everyday objects, and use of soft lighting recall the work of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi and the contemporary painter Lennart Anderson, with whom she studied.

Cox received a master of fine arts degree from Brooklyn College in 1992. She has received several prestigious awards such as the Charles G. Shaw award for painting in 1990 and 1991 from Brooklyn College, the Stefan Hirsch Memorial Award from Audubon Arts, and the Women in the Visual Arts Certificate of Merit. She exhibits regularly on both coasts and resides in Brooklyn, New York.