ABOUT ZOX
The Doors’ Jim Morrison lay on his back, rapt, never saying a word or blinking, as Zox told the tale of Parisian artists and poets hanging in La Closerie des Lilas, a 1920 Left Bank cafe. It was there André Breton coined “Surrealism” and started a literary movement with his manifesto. Breton met with Freud, Hemingway, James Joyce and Dali. The ideas they exchanged changed the world. Shortly after, Jim's girlfriend Pamela told Zox he’d have to move out of their Topanga home, where he was living. They were selling and moving to Paris. Zox doesn’t claim he had anything to do with Jim and Pamela’s move, but the coincidence is uncannily epic!
Born in Hollywood, Zox felt at home in the world of stars. Fashioning a Creativity Major in college (an interdisciplinary course including art, film, photography and writing) led to connecting with Andy Warhol at SDSU. Studying at SFSU under Beat Poet Robert Creeley, Zox was praised for creating visual poems containing no words. Painting murals at the Beach Boys’ studio in Santa Monica led to a one-on-one photo session with Bob Dylan. It was during this period that Zox painted Steely Dan’s Royal Scam; designed and painted The Bee Gees’ tour jet; tagged the Weltfrieden mural on the Berlin Wall; discussed vegetarianism with premier French philosopher Jacques Derrida; interviewed, photographed, reviewed and showed with conceptual Artist John Baldessari. Leon Russell’s Church Studio in Tulsa commissioned Zox to paint a permanent installation of oil portraits of stars who recorded there: Leon Russell, J.J Cale, Dwight Twilley and Tom Petty.
At one point, three different billboards Zox designed were simultaneously looming over Sunset Strip. Waiting out front of The Troubadour for the Dr. John show, John Lennon and Elton John slipped inside a white stretch limo by the curb. “John Lennon. Quack quack,” Zox impulsively joked. John popped up through the sunroof and retorted, “Quack quack,” then slid back down.
Zox’s latest LA exhibition BEAUTY is a collection of 14 oil paintings, showcasing historic women and mythical goddesses. The last few years Zox has also been working on experimental art films. His co-created work POP UP follows Zox’s series of pop up exhibitions from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic and back. The film won 17 international film festival awards. His latest film FUTURE OF ART takes the viewer through a dynamic matrix of potentialities in the world of art. Athough recently submitted, the film has already garnered 7 international film festival awards.