MARK DOOX
For three decades, the iconographer Mark Doox has explored anti-Blackness in America and in the church — work that has culminated in his book, “The N-Word of God.” — Robert Ito, The New York Times
CV
Born 1958, Columbus, Ohio
Education
1980-82 Columbus College of Art and Design
Special Projects
2004-2024 "The N- Word of God." (366 pages, with over 125 full-colored Byz Dada icons, Illustrated novel, and illuminated manuscript-styled personal magnum opus of “existential Black American wonder.”) published by Fantagraphics Books 2024
1998-2008 "The Dancing Saints Icon Project." (Liturgical Icon Project.) Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, CA
1992-97 "Coltrane Church Icon Program." (Liturgical Icon Project.) St. John Coltrane AOC, San Francisco, CA
Recent Solo Exhibitions
2024 "ENIGGERMA," Jonathan Levine Projects, Jersey City, New Jersey, (online)
2020 "This Bright Demeanor," Jonathan Levine Projects, Jersey City, New Jersey, (online)
Recent Group Exhibitions
2023 "New Moon Figure Eight," 1207 Tenth St, Berkeley, CA
2018 "Delusional," Jonathan Levine Projects, Jersey City, New Jersey
2018 ”Stations of the Cross," St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, New York City, (city-wide public art exhibition) USA
Permanent Installations
2020-Present “Our Lady of Ferguson” The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, New York (after periodic presentations: now on extended loan.)
2008- Present "The Dancing Saints Icon Mural." Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, CA
1997- Present "The Coltrane Church ‘Love Supreme’ Cathedral Icons" St. John Coltrane AOC, San Francisco, CA
Books & Catalogues
2024 Doox, Mark "The N-word of God," Fantagraphics Books
2024 “Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts,” Edited by Dr. Chloe Reddaway
2023 “Is Byzantine Studies A Colonialist Discipline?" Edited by Prof. Benjamin Anderson and Mirelan Ivanova, Penn State University Press
2019 "50 Years: Coltrane Church." Edited by Marisa Aveling, Press M9
2015 Baham, Dr. Nicholas Louis III "The Coltrane Church: Apostles of Sound, Agents of Justice," MacFarland & Company Inc.
Articles & Reviews
2024 Ito, Robert. “Confronting What It Means to Be Black in America Through Faith and Art” New York Times Feb. 25, 2024
2023 Honegan, Albert Douglas. “The Platytéra and Pietà: Black Visual Biblical Allegory in Mark Doox’s Our Lady, Mother of Ferguson and All Those Killed by Gun Violence (2016)” Oxford Black Theology Journal Vol. 22, no. 1 Spring 2024
2022 Selassie I, Dr. W. Gabriel. "White Jesus Must Die: Decoding Black Jesus The Iconography of Coon Christ and Jesus of the People." Journal: Delos, Vol. 37. No1, pp 15-26 (spring)
2022 Pnina Arad. “Post-Secular Art for a Post-Secular Age: Stational Installations of the Via Dolorosa in Western Cities.” Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief Volume 18, -Issue 2
2021 Miller, M.H. “The Canonization of Saint John Coltrane” The New York Times Style Magazine, 3 December (artist mentioned art featured)
2020 Coplan, Lil. "Our Lady of Ferguson, by Mark Doox" The Christian Century, 20 July
2019 Hsu, Hua. “Fifty Years of Worship at the John Coltrane Church.” The New Yorker, 24 December
2018 (The Rev.) Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones, Ph.D. “Through A Glass Darkly: Theological [Re]Visioning with All The Boys” in Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement. McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2018.
2017 Hoel, Ole Jacob. "Coltrane den hellige til Olavsfest-dagene" Adresseavisen, 27 June
Films & Media
2021 "A Church Built on A Love Supreme." NPR video on YouTube, 2 Feb. 20
2021 "Black Jesus." BBC Radio/World Service (artist interview)
Performances
2019 "Coltrane Meditation." Performance by Coltrane Church, 8 Sept., Skylight Pavilion, The Kennedy Center, Washington (images of artist's art projected as a backdrop)
2017 "Alabama." (performance dedicated to John Coltrane and blessing icon of him commissioned for Olavsfestdagene 2017) Performance by various artists, 21 July, Vår Frue Church, Trondheim, Norway
2017 "Olavsfestdagene Main Stage." Performance by Various Artists (an 8x30 foot banner of 9 oversized figures from the artist's Dancing Saints icon was used as a backdrop) Trondheim, Norway
Artist Talks
2024 "Mark Doox." Visiting Author Lecture, Arizona State University, 3 October,
2021 "Mark Doox." Visiting Artist Lecture, Auburn University, 9 March, Auburn, Alabama
2020 "Mark Doox." The Bible in Art, Music, and Literature Seminar, University of Oxford, 16 Nov. Oxford, United Kingdom
2020 "Black Existential Musings: An Evening Talk with Artist/Writer Mark Doox" Visiting Artist Lecture, 14 Oct., Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Writings by the Artist
2020 "The N-word of God: Envisioning the image of Christ” Religion News Service, 24 June (nationally circulated Op-Ed piece)