Christopher Cook

Place: North Yorkshire

Born: 1959

Biography:

Christopher Cook (born 1959) is a British painter known for works since 1998 in graphite powder and resin, which have been exhibited in, and collected by, several major museums, predominantly in the USA. Cook’s works since 1998/9 have been almost exclusively monochromatic, painted and drawn in graphite powder suspended in resin and oil, onto coated papers, aluminium sheet, or linen. The surfaces of what he terms ‘graphites’ are extremely thin, and involve much reworking but almost no layering. The images have considerable range in terms of subject matter. Formal connections to Daguerreotype, Photorealism, lithography and Surrealism have been noted in reviews. In some works, especially those arising from an Arts Council residency at Eden Project, there is a strongly microscopic component, emphasized by the intricacy of the graphite surfaces, and sometimes linked to Baroque architecture. Cook is represented by Mary Ryan Gallery, New York. He is also a writer, and has published a number of artist books and collections of poems, and has also contributed catalogue essays, exhibition and book reviews.