Oceans, an exhibition on view at Pace Gallery’s Geneva location, features recent work—paintings and drawings in tones of blue—by Nigel Cooke. Primarily made of oil and acrylic on linen, these works are meditations of the sea as well as a nod to Homer’s Odyssey. Reflecting on the current pandemic and social-distancing circumstances, the artist describes “thinking again about the ideas of separation from family, inner resourcefulness, and transformation, what we’re going through now, as well as adventure.” Although the exhibition is intended to be seen in person rather than solely online, Pace Gallery provides a compelling online experience nonetheless, which bodes well not only for viewers who aren’t based in Geneva but also sidesteps the art-viewing restrictions created by the pandemic.
Oceans represents a drastic stylistic shift in Cooke’s work, as the abstracted blue brush strokes are performative and kinetic, nodding towards the gestural qualities of Abstract Expressionism. Cooke’s mark-making blurs the lines between multiple styles of painting like abstraction and figuration, and genres such as landscape and still life. Painted on the brownish ground of raw canvas, the hues of blue take on a sculptural quality that seems to exist in a purely organic environment. In paintings such as Athena and Telemachus, Cooke incorporates blue and brown washes, which mediate between the natural linen and the vibrant pigments. Although they are oceanic, the paintings feel as if they could extend themselves into various other forms of movement. For this reason the abstraction feels figurative, as if the water’s trajectory could be mistaken for a dancer’s rhythmic movement, resulting in strokes of blue that breathe life. Cooke’s aquatic observations become something other than a body of water, yet they capture the feeling of confronting an ocean—the sensation of standing before something far more significant than oneself.
Oceans represents a drastic stylistic shift in Cooke’s work, as the abstracted blue brush strokes are performative and kinetic, nodding towards the gestural qualities of Abstract Expressionism. Cooke’s mark-making blurs the lines between multiple styles of painting like abstraction and figuration, and genres such as landscape and still life. Painted on the brownish ground of raw canvas, the hues of blue take on a sculptural quality that seems to exist in a purely organic environment. In paintings such as Athena and Telemachus, Cooke incorporates blue and brown washes, which mediate between the natural linen and the vibrant pigments. Although they are oceanic, the paintings feel as if they could extend themselves into various other forms of movement. For this reason the abstraction feels figurative, as if the water’s trajectory could be mistaken for a dancer’s rhythmic movement, resulting in strokes of blue that breathe life. Cooke’s aquatic observations become something other than a body of water, yet they capture the feeling of confronting an ocean—the sensation of standing before something far more significant than oneself.
Nigel Cooke, Athena, 2020, oil and acrylic on linen, 225 cm × 164 cm (88-9/16" × 64-9/16") © Nigel Cooke
This is an insightful review! I really feel you have captured something wonderful in your description of Cooke's brushstrokes, as even your description feels meditative. I wonder if you could circle back around to the ideas you quotes Cooke on about the pandemic and isolation as its related to the ocean and his new body of work at the end of your review to really tie everything together. I also wonder if there's anything else you could say about how this new work contrasts from Cooke's previous work.
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