Stephen Cox first established a reputation in the late 1970s with vast 'Surface' sculptures in plaster resulting from an analytical approach and dialogue with American Minimalism. More recently, he has returned to the ancient challenge of cutting into stone, marble and granite, taking inspiration from the great carving achievements of the Renaissance, and the carving traditions of Egypt and India, where he has maintained studios since the mid-1980s. Cox is the first sculptor since antiquity to have access to the Imperial Porphyry Quarries in the Eastern Mountains of Egypt, and perhaps the first since the Renaissance to have carved its rare and precious stone, which once supplied the monuments of Rome and Constantinople. Since 1985 he has also worked with temple carvers in South India.
The Sculpture of Stephen Cox examines the different phases of Cox's evolution as a sculptor: from the early works confronting the issues of Minimalism, through the bas-reliefs of the middle period, to the free-standing monumental pieces of recent years, Stephen Bann's text discusses Cox's profound engagement with art of the past and of other cultures, arguing that the seemingly antagonistic strands of Cox's work in fact have accumulated to form a rich texture of related references.
In addition to Bann's scholarly essay, The Sculpture of Stephen Cox includes an interview with the artist by Andrea Schlieker from 1985, and a new interview by Tim Marlow; a complete, illustrated catalogue of Cox's work to date; a detailed chronology; and a bibliography. Fully illustrated in black-and-white, with 32 colour plates, this book is the key reference work on the sculpture of Stephen Cox.