Nigel Cooke

Nigel Cooke’s large scale, fantastical paintings consider consumer culture in the framework of 18th century landscape painting, Flemish masters, and “hybrid theatrical spaces” of modern painters. Sweeping horizons with grassy pastures and waterfalls set scenes for grotesque figures that emerge from all quadrants of the image. Contemporary vice features heavily in Cooke’s work, which are in a constant “hybrid state of generation and destruction.” With scientific accuracy, he dissects the painted surface and melds micro and macro elements of figuration and abstraction. Every image he creates is intentionally on the brink of failure, pushing the tension that arises from historical expectations of the painted surface. Cooke’s work is self-possessed, using tumult and devastation to fuel transcendence.

Cooke has exhibited at various institutions including Moderna Museet, Stockholm, The Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, Tate Britain, London, Herzliya Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel, New Museum, New York, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, and Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneous, Mexico City, among many others.