Breathtaking is how you would describe the lifelike paintings done by Kovsky Cox who owns Mysterious Arts, a company he operates from St Lawrence Gap, Hastings Christ Church.
Over the years, the self-taught artist has won the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts Gold, Bronze and Silver awards since entering the competition in 2007.
He told Bajan Vibes that his paintings are inspired by Barbadian culture.
“First of all, I love painting. I must let you know that. It is mostly Barbadian culture. The turtles [referring to the painting of turtles he was working on when we arrived] and things come along because I am in a tourist area and they love the turtles. So, I cater for the people at the end of the day,” Cox said. He added that he loved art from a young age as he would draw in his notebook while studying at the Grantley Adams Memorial School.
“From a young boy I loved art. A teacher would be teaching me English and I would be drawing in my book. So, it is something natural to me. I was pushed into it because of back injuries and a family member asked me to do something for her. After I finished it, everyone liked it so much, I decided that painting would be my thing,” he said, adding that he starts all of his paintings via a sketch and then builds the story.
“Most of it starts with a sketch first to get a direction of where I want to go. Some of them would be pictures of chattel houses and then I would make a story line with it, put an old lady going home shopping and make a story from the chattel house landscape. If it is a turtle, they have their own story in the water. Deep seas are simply just something relaxing; anything that inspires me. I do portraits as well but on commission, because they take a lot of energy and concentration,” Cox said. (LG)
