Kevin Dera Cox
How would you describe your work?
My work is a constant negotiation of my body and its relationship to where and who it stands next to. Driven by the February 2023 earthquake in my hometown Adana Turkey, I am interested in the grid form of roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, where intersection points can either encourage or hinder social interaction. I’m asking myself: Where in the grid does one put their trust? What are the resources available to us in our immediate environment that are often overlooked, resources that may be wielded to question social and political hegemony? Where in our environments do we get to express ourselves? Should we seek a different form or shape other than the grid for us to thrive in trustable spaces? What does that look like, and what does it take to achieve that?
What inspires you?
I can’t remember a time when a wonderful open skied October morning didn’t get me going for months after. Sometimes I have conversations with strangers that are as important as ones I have with my closest friends, and recently I have been learning to listen even more. I’ve been paying attention to my own story and understanding its relationship to the ones I am listening to. Not just people, but plants, trees and animals also give me insight on the possibilities of thriving outside of rigidity.
Can you speak about your process?
I dismember the comic book’s rectangular and grid-like narrative structure which has informed much of my personal code of the world. I break the composition of the grid by drawing, then collage, and through this process I land on sculpture and installation made out of materials used in the first steps of building like paper and wood. In these installations, I get to explore the junction of our bodies in rooms and spaces that confront the regular aesthetics of buildings we claim to be safe. Though recently, video, fabrics, and performance has entered my realm of making and I am still in the middle of finding my footing with these materials and practices.
How did you become interested in art?
Growing up watching my brother play video games and watching early 2000s French and Japanese animation dubbed to Turkish was formative because it served as the first visual media I was absolutely consumed by. Then comic books and books entered my life and I was seeking new aesthetics of story telling and expression by the time I made it to my teenage years. But I truly started making connections with myself and the work I was making when I started working at Ilgin Erdem and Ulku Kaya Karabiber’s studios from the ages of 16 to 19. I realized the layering and complexity I am able to achieve in abstraction and the breaking of the classical structure held so much more value in terms of expressing myself. Ever since moving to the United States to pursue my education as an artist, my view on art has grown and expanded far beyond what I was expecting. I would say I am interested in art nowadays more than I have even been before and I hope the trajectory continues this way.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
Just this past month I was able to see Raqib Shaq’s masterpiece “Paradise Lost” at the Chicago Art Institute. I’m still captivated and humbled by it, I don’t know when this feeling will stop. I highly recommend people go see it in person.
I keep coming back to Leonardo Drew, Gordon Matta Clark, Georgia O keef, all of the wonderful artists of Meow Wolf, and Gustav Klimt (how can any one not stop coming back to his work). Then there are illustrators and writers like Galip Tekin, Moebius, Kim Jung Gi, Gary Villarreal, Kathy Colwitz and the list goes on.
I think the most influential painter for me has been Lynette Lombard, my painting professor who passed away in 2024. Her paintings are still the backbone of my understanding of physicality.
I listen to a lot of music from all over the place. I am still in love with Anatolian psychedelic rock, Selda Bagcan, Ozdemir Erdogan, Baris Manco and more modern sounds like Altin Gun and Satellites. Turkish rappers like Ezhel, Aga B, and Farazi are frequents in my studio as well.
What advice do you have for younger artists?
I think we have a lot to say right now about the world. You shouldn’t be afraid to say it, you matter and your work matters. Be it a drawing, a word, or a song, say it, and share it. We literally only have each other to do this with, don't be afraid to share and collaborate with your friends and people you are interested in. We got this, you got this :).
