“I consider most of my sculpture a fragile symbiosis. I want it to achieve a visual sensuality which is at once part of, and independent of, “other” content. That pure visual quality is perhaps less at the heart of my work now than at the beginning, but for me it still provides a critical transformation.”—Ernest Cox, 2017
A Fragile Symbiosis: The Sculpture of Ernest Cox celebrates the distinguished career of longtime Easton resident and sculptor, Ernest Cox (1937-2024), who taught for more than thirty years in the art department at the University of South Florida in Tampa. There, he worked alongside fellow artists Dr. Donald Saff, George Holzer, and Kenneth Elliott, all of whom would later join Cox in the Easton area. Organized by the Academy Art Museum, A Fragile Symbiosis complements the exhibition Rauschenberg 100: New Connections and illustrates the deep and abiding relationships established by artists on the Eastern Shore.
The most comprehensive presentation of the artist’s work in nearly 30 years, A Fragile Symbiosis contains more than 20 sculptures and illustrates the arc of Cox’s artistic career, beginning with his early “Slab Series”—singular, wall-mounted sculptures made from fabricated and salvaged metal—to his later multi-part assemblages.
Please join us for a Member Reception: Friday, Mar 27, 2026; 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
About Ernest Cox:
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Cox earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the College of William and Mary (1959) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art (1961). While at Cranbrook, Cox participated as a sculptor and designer in the General Motors Styling Division Experimental Program, which undoubtedly influenced his use of metal as his primary medium. Following receipt of his graduate degree, Cox attended Michigan State University, where he pursued post-graduate study in philosophy. His interests in philosophy—particularly the writings of Voltaire (1694–1778) and Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), 18th-century Enlightenment-era writers, satirists, and philosophers—combined with his observations on shared lived experiences—aspirations, achievements, failures, acts of will, endurance, and adaptation—would permeate his sculptures for the entirety of his career. One critic noted “the metal sculpture of Ernest Cox—sometimes as darkly foreboding as a nightmare—always have seemed to me to seek out those mysteries which are the embodiment of all lasting art, if only because the human experience is a mysterious adventure into the unknown.”
Following his studies, Cox moved to Florida, where he served as Art Instructor in the Duval County School System and at the Jacksonville Art Museum (now Cummer Museum of Art). In 1962, he joined the art department at the University of South Florida, where he served on the faculty and as a professor of art until his retirement in 1991. During his tenure, he also served as Chairman of the Art Department between 1971 and 1973, succeeding Dr. Donald Saff in that capacity. Following his retirement, Cox relocated permanently to the Eastern Shore and was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of the University of South Florida in 1993.
During his tenure at the University of South Florida, Cox participated in more than one hundred juried and invitational exhibitions throughout the East and Southeast, including solo gallery shows in New York, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Tampa. His work has been shown in group exhibitions at a number of museums, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the North Carolina Museum of Fine Art, the Mint Museum of Art, Jacksonville Art Museum (now Cummer Museum of Art), the Tampa Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the Norton Museum of Art, the Ringling Museum of Art, and others. His art is contained in numerous corporate and public collections, including the Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland; the First National Bank of Atlanta, Georgia; the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); the headquarters of the Gulf Life Insurance Company, Jacksonville, Florida; and the First National Bank of Tampa; as well as in numerous private collections.
Images
Ernest Cox (Wilmington, North Carolina, 1937 – 2024, Easton, Maryland), V-8, (date not known), welded, fabricated, and found steel, wires, 22 x 12 x 3 inches. Collection of Glen Cox.
Ernest Cox (Wilmington, North Carolina, 1937 – 2024, Easton, Maryland), A Train, (date not known), welded, fabricated, and found iron and steel, 36 ¼ x 29 ¾ x 6 ¼ inches. Gift of Ernest Cox. 2009.007.02