Graphite, oil and resin on paper, 72x102cm.
Christopher Cook | Skirmish
Graphite, oil and resin on paper, 72x102cm.
Artist Statement
I have worked in monochrome for the past twenty years, specifically a fluid medium that combines graphite powder with resin and oil, that allows aspects of painting and of drawing to be used at different moments of image construction. Paramount to my process is a high degree of improvisation and testing in the early stages of making, and monochrome has been influential in this by removing the insistent associative triggers of colour. Monochrome has also opened up potential connections to early black and white photography, and to gestural ink painting of the Eastern traditions. I appreciate Odilon Redon’s position that “one must respect black, nothing prostitutes it. It does not please the eye and it awakens no sensuality. It is the agent of the mind far more than the most beautiful color of the palette or prism”.
These current graphite images are made onto coated paper, and are based on 17th century Dutch Still Life painting, a preoccupation that began with straightforward transpositions of iconic works, but which became a sustained imaginative inquiry. A clear intention of the Dutch genre is as display of wealth and power, of colonialist expansionism, as well as of beauty, and the more I looked, the more this contradiction came to reflect a ‘coming of age’ of capitalism and materialism. This recognition prompted me to consider contemporary implications of the genre by disrupting the beauty of the various tableaux by the addition of anachronistic elements that suggested modern-day exploitation, conflict, and protectionism. I want however to maintain a balance between my reverence for the original works and this iconoclastic tendency.
The images exhibited at Sunny Art Centre represent a range of these themes, from the subtle mischief-maker lemur among the precious objects of The Thief, to the more overt threats of conflict in Skirmish and Shadowy. DMZ Still Life was made during a residency in Nicosia, Cyprus, in which the displays of wealth and well-being become trapped and trivialised within a demilitarised zone.
Artist CV
Education
1979-81 B.A. English Literature and Fine Art, University of Exeter
1983-86 M.A. Painting, Royal College of Art London
Currently: Reader in Painting, University of Plymouth
Selected Solo shows
2019
York Art Gallery
2018
Ryan Lee Gallery New York
2015
Hubner and Hubner Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
2014
Art First London
2013
Ryan Lee Gallery, New York
2011
Langgeng Foundation, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
2010
Mary Ryan Gallery New York
2009
Fine Art Society London
2007
Today Art Museum, Beijing
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York
2005
Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan
California State University Long Beach
2004
Art Museum, University of Memphis, TN
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY
Diboll Gallery, New Orleans, USA
2003
Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
Eden Project, Cornwall, UK
2002
Koraalberg Gallery, Antwerp
2001
Ferens Museum, Hull, UK
Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
Towner Museum and Art Gallery, Eastbourne
2000
Heidelberger Kunstverein, Germany
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
Layers of Visibility, NiMAC Nicosia
New Light, Tullie House Carlisle
Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, Mall Galleries, London
2017
Art First @ Eagle Gallery London
New Light, Bowes Museum, Co Durham.
Langgeng Fundation Jogjakarta, Indonesia
2014
John Moores Liverpool
Flow Szechuan Art Academy, Chongqing, China
2013
Graphite GVArt, London
MIMA Middlesbrough
2012
Amalgam, Mary Ryan New York
2011
Dust on the Mirror, ICA Singapore
Drawings for the New Century, Minneapolis Museum of Art USA
Grey, Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge
2010
Dust on the Mirror, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham UK
2009
Triangle Gallery, Chelsea School of Art London
Spazi Aperti, Accademia di Romania, Rome, Italy
2008
Leaded, Salina Art Gallery, Kansas, USA and tour
Tempo Reale, British School at Rome, Italy.
2007
Trace and Transience CCANW Devon
2006
Until it Makes Sense, Gallery Seventeen, London.
Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, Paris
2005
Yale Center for British Art USA
Recent Acquisitions Cleveland Museum USA
2004
Drawing Weatherspoon Art Center, N Carolina, USA
2003
East of Eden Spacex Gallery Exeter
2002
Crossing the Border Morley Gallery, London
2001
West by South West, Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Norway
2000
John Moores 21, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (Prizewinner)
Awards
2017
New Light First Prize
2013
Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, Liguria, Italy
2011
Resident Artist, Langgeng Foundation, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
2009
PAS Scholar, British School at Rome
2006
British Council Award, Beijing
2005
Daiwa Award, Yokohama Triennial
2004
British Council Award to University of Memphis, USA
2001
Arts Council England Residency, Eden Project Cornwall UK
2000
AHRC award, Bundanon Trust, Australia
1999
John Moores XXI Prizewinner
Additional information
Weight | 50 kg |
---|---|
Dimensions | 102 × 40 × 72 cm |
UWCF Colors | |
Height | 72 |
Length | |
Medium | |
Orientation | Landscape |
Subject |