Introducing: Mr. Doodle

I want to introduce you to someone I’ve been following lately.

Sam Cox is only 23, but he’s fast becoming the new Keith Haring among contemporary art collectors in England. That’s in part because of his distinctive doodle-styled illustrations, but it’s also because of the self-deprecating persona he employs to promote his work.

Over the years, Cox has built an A-List of corporate clients, including MTV, Adidas, and Cass Art.

He’s not breaking new ground. He comes from a line of graffiti and street-art creators. And there’s no denying that he steals a lot from the legendary Haring, who died, at age 31, in 1990.

Like Haring, Cox’s illustrations are hieroglyphics comprised of personal symbols – repeated patterns that include shapes and squiggles, numbers and letters, forms and scribbling, and cartoons. His art draws from a social consciousness, but it is not dogmatic. The bulk of it is a lighthearted take on popular images, like this one:

Some is innocent, even juvenile or downright puerile, like this self-portrait:

But I have to say, my favorites have an edgy, ominous quality, with what seems to be a bit of social messaging, like this one:

I also like his doodle interpretations of iconic works of art, like this:

And this:

Cox began his career very recently, in 2017, by posting his doodles online. His rise to fame since then has been meteoric, as have the prices of some of his work. (One of his pieces, a large one, sold for $1.02 million at the Tokyo Chuo Auction.)

His installations are designed to give the viewer the feeling of walking into a shop and being assaulted by a thousand products lined up from floor to ceiling. He says he doesn’t care if people take his work seriously, since much of it isn’t serious, or even understand it. “I just want people to spend time looking at it,” he says.

You can watch him at work here.