Paul Cox

Paul Cox's fluid, immediate draughtsmanship and vibrant colour makes him one of the most enjoyable of contemporary illustrators. A recent highly successful exhibition in London of over 200 works demonstrated the breadth of his achievement, and especially the geographical range of his imagery; for he is a significant topographical painter as well as both an incisive and sensitive literary illustrator and highly versatile designer.

'Paul achieves a triple state of illustration: his work combines discernment, send-up, and celebration all at once- too knowing to be merely whimsical, too fun-loving to become mockery, and too sharply observed to slide into complacency. There is a genial humanity in Paul's work, a quality that gives it currency and will also give it legs'. Graydon Carter.

'You're a fabulous artist! All too few artists today, in my opinion, have the Ronald Searlesque, Gillraydiant gift of rendering pictures of people, even crowds of them, in action in contemporary settings.' Tom Wolfe.

Since leaving the Royal College of Art in 1982, his published paintings now number in the thousands. His immediately recognisable style has made his work a very familiar part of the printed page both here and in the US for over 30 years. He has illustrated 27 books for the Folio Society amongst other titles for adults and children. Over the years his work has appeared in the pages of all the major British broadsheets and their magazine supplements- contributing paintings from southern Spain for The Sunday Times Magazine to accompany stories by the writer Norman Lewes; taking on numerous location assignments with writer Tim Heald for The Daily Telegraph (which included trying - and falling out of the Cresta bobsled run); and covering the 1997 elections in Britain for the Guardian. His Illustrations have appeared in The Spectator, Punch, Country Life, Esquire, Town & Country, and many other publications.

Aside from his commissioned work Paul has had numerous exhibitions and his Paintings are in many private collections. Since his first show at Chris Beetles Gallery in 1989, this has been the principal London outlet for sales of his work. His last show in October 2013 was well reported with a substantial two-page review in the Daly Telegraph. The exhibition proved very popular and sold more than 70 paintings.

Paul taught illustration for ten years at Camberwell school of Art and has lectured at many collages throughout the country. He currently runs drawing courses at West Dean College which have been popular with students of all abilities.