About the artist

---

Crystal Cox started painting again in 2013, professionally in 2015 after a series of personal storms subsided. “My life vascillated between fairy tales and nightmares.  I grew during the nightmares.”  She says “the act of painting and playing with different materials always transports me into a mindless, peaceful focused world where I can relax, escape and create. That ability to escape with active meditation helped me heal."

From prominent galleries to Art Basel in Miami to show houses in the Southeast, Crystal is now focused on being an independent artist “at least for a little while.".  Crystal uses a combination of mixed media to create her abstract pieces: collage, acrylic, oil, pastels, 24k gold leaf, vintage magazines from the 50’s and 60’s, pharmacy ledgers in French, old sheet music from Germany, beautiful ephemera from the 1800’s. “It’s all an opportunity to me.”

Crystal feels she is a self taught artist even though she graduated with a BFA from SMU in Dallas. “I probably learned the basics in art school, but I really learned my sense of color, composition and texture from my parents."  

How did her upbringing influence her work ? 

"My interior designer mother loved to draw her clients' rooms, my engineer father painted landscapes in oils with structures in perfect perspective. His architectural handwriting was truly beautiful."  The use of old magazines in Crystal’s work is an homage to her childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. “That era was rife with style and color, classic design was being born every day. I lived it through my parents. The music, the fashion, the furnishings, the colors, the political chaos of the VietNam war, the civil rights movement. It was a fantastic world to absorb inspiration for my art today.” 

The interest in ancient art motifs and old textiles is evident in Crystal's newest collection being released in October 2024. "I took 4 years of Latin in high-school so learning Greek mythology as we translated English to Latin gave me my first exposures to Greek history. Then I needed more. More civilizations, more motifs that inspired art, culture and fabric." 

A car wreck, a horrific 10-hour spinal surgery, 14 pins in her neck and spinal cord rehab at Mt. Sinai-NYC gave Crystal  a need to manage chronic pain.  "My art healed me. I'd left my art in college when the dreams of pursuing an MFA in NYC were not met with support by my family. I needed something mediative to help pain, stress from a divorce and life at the time. So I started painting again."  With time and a daily practice, Crystal developed as an artist. "Lockdown during COVID in an apartment with an art studio in the Financial District in Manhattan was magical for me." Crystal's business exploded.  She worked 7 days a week full-filling commissions from her posts on social media. "COVID lockdown forced me to paint all day everyday, my business exploded into my dream." 

Crystal is currently working on a new collection that uses every element of her work from the last decade. Debuting in October of this year, you'll find several of Crystal's pieces available for sale...unless you're one of the few with an inside connection to Crystal's works ... then maybe you already have a piece on your walls!

Crystal is temporarily living in Dallas after a death in the family and will be moving back to New York City splitting time between Dallas, Atlanta and New York.