Nigel Cooke – British, Manchester, b.1973 Represented by PACE Gallery , New York https://www.pacegallery.com/
Nigel is an acclaimed figurative artist known for his large-scale fantastical scenes of decaying urban landscapes.” I am interested in taking the painting on a journey to arrive at somewhere new, experiencing it in a linear way that allows lines to accumulate and the paint to build up in significant areas. What I end up with is not strictly a figure but a matrix of lines that come in and out of a description of human forms, but that also slips into animal, plant, and landscape intonations.” Nigel Cooke.
Nigel Cooke
Nigel Cooke, Love, 2019, oil and acrylic on linen, 88-9/16" × 64-9/16" (224.9 cm × 164 cm) © Nigel Cooke
" It’s a centrifugal image of two figures colliding, coming apart, merging. The colour started low key but became intense, ending in touches of magenta and hot pink. The implosions of love and desire mean something to most people. Paintings can flicker to life this way too"
Nigel Cooke, Actaeon, 2019, oil and acrylic on linen, 88-9/16" × 64-9/16" (224.9 cm × 164 cm) © Nigel Cooke
"The myth of Acteon makes me think of being misunderstood, condemned. About irreversible consequences, of punishment and judgement. But his transformation also calls to mind coming closer to nature, in his case at the cost of how he considered himself human, cultured, separate, and a predator. Maybe there’s an ecological though in here, but also one about what it feels like to be a painter, balancing 2 kinds of inner nature"
Nigel Cooke, Watching, 2019, oil and acrylic on linen,88-9/16" × 64-9/16" (224.9 cm × 164 cm) © Nigel Cooke
"Frantic spirals and curves of neon yellow paint steer clear of two humps towards the bottom of the canvas. Feeling of being in a performative arena with the painting. The natural temperament as a painter : to work with and against failure and success in one unbroken gesture brought out deeper ideas and incidents in the process."
