Unlike some of his artistic heroes he never makes explicitly political art or use his doodles to encode political messages. He believes in the accessibility of his work and the element of humour: “A lot of art is lacking a sense of humour. It’s a fun thing to be able to draw and create your own world, and sometimes it is funny. I’m not afraid of people laughing at me or if they don’t get it.” He believes that doodling is familiar to many of us as a joyous absent-minded activity from our youth, evoking nostalgic feelings about a time when our minds could just wander off without worrying about our adult responsibilities or having to be productive.
In popular culture his early inspiration: “Goes back to when I was a kid watching Tom and Jerry, Wacky Races and SpongeBob SquarePants, and video games like Crash Bandicoot. I always wanted to draw characters for video games.” Cox started drawing when he was a child, describing his work as graffiti spaghetti.
He does not plan his work but draws his doodles quickly and they seem to spread across a surface which he calls a “developing drawing virus.” This can be seen on YouTube and Instagram as he is often filmed while creating his doodles and characterises his practice as “OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Drawing.” Spontaneity plays a crucial role in sustaining this obsessive drive and his artworks are usually created by improvisation on the spot. When looking at his work there is a sense of visual overload with its myriad of characters, letters, forms and symbols flowing into each other to be deciphered in an endless interactive game with the viewer.
His work is hugely popular in East Asia. One of his canvasses sold in Tokyo for more than £700,000 and he has had solo exhibitions across the world including Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore. In 2019, Cox bought a large house in the village of Tenterden in Kent for just over £1 million. Over the next three years he doodled over every surface on the inside and outside of the building.
Buy his artwork from mainstream galleries here and check out his website.
