Page 56 - Annual Review 2008

56 / RESOuRCES
Nigel Cooke wants to simultaneously represent ‘all
the characteristics of painting, from the retarded to
the sophisticated . . . as though the whole past lives
of the medium were flashing before its eyes'. Highly
stylised popular art forms, such as graffiti and the
graphic novel, are important touchstones for Cooke.
At the same time, his technique bears resemblance
to Flemish Renaissance painting. He is interested in
the collision between this artisanal, labour-intensive
approach to painting and the immediacy that is possible
in contemporary image making.
The work also invokes the grand-scale narrative
paintings of the nineteenth-century: it compresses
an enormous amount of pictorial information into the
minute details of the painting, creating a very dynamic
and active visual experience.
NiGEl
COOKE
To work is to play 2008
Nigel Cooke / To work is to play 2008 / Oil on canvas / Purchased 2008 with funds from the
Estate of Lawrence F King in memory of the late Mr and Mrs SW King through the Queensland
Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery / Image courtesy: Stuart Shave/
Modern Art, London
Influences
Graffiti, graphic novels,
Flemish Renaissance