Nigel Cooke Figurative Paintings
British, b. 1973
Nigel Cooke is known for evocative works that merge figurative forms with abstract and elemental atmospherics.
Since the late 1990s, Cooke has explored and stretched the boundaries of figurative painting, creating a highly diverse and distinctive body of work. More recently, his work has assessed this output, moving into a succinct language with which to investigate his wide range of interests. Informed by a range of fields from palae-ontology, neuroscience, classical mythology and zoology, the linear construction of Cooke’s latest paintings recalls brain circuitry, the human or animal body and landscape formations simultaneously.
The artist is interested in folding familiar dualities such as the mind and body, or the human brain and the natural world, into a single fluid gesture. His organic abstractions are loaded with mammalian and geological fragments, creating an instability and movement in the image as well as an ambiguity between a vast array of natural associations.
Using notational sketches and paintings made on location at various sites around the world, Cooke distills his impressions of specific places and the people in them into a personal vocabulary of forms that evolves and repeats through time, with autobiographical material often infusing and directing the process. Developing an emotive and highly focused use of colour alongside these forms, Cooke’s calligraphic images are delicately balanced, with structure and collapse held together in a state of tension.
The paintings contrast staining techniques on raw linen with classical techniques of layering and spatial depth, indebted to both abstract expressionism and the figurative compositions of European Classicism. Much of the work’s rehearsals and revisions are visible in the final image, which play fine, schematic areas against passages of gestural impasto.
Cooke’s background in masterfully executed figurative painting provides the sense of drawing and representational rendering that permeate the abstract marks. In their unfixed and writhing otherness, they engage with the self as a porous system, in flux between animal states and prehistory, between the inner life and the ecosystems of the world at large.
Nigel Cooke studied at the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths College, where he gained a PhD in Philosophy, writing about non-linear systems in the thought of George Bataille, Michel Serres and others. Making often atypical connections between disparate fields - cave paintings and surrealism, insect mimicry and information physics - his theoretical writings ultimately explored representation as a function of the natural world, and formed the basis of his conception of the value of painting and its possibilities.
His paintings are held in several of the world’s major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Astrup Fearnely Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo; Milwaukee Art Museum.to
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Artist: Nigel Cooke
"Pyroclastic Fever, " Nigel Cooke, Contemporary Painting, Lightning Skyscape
By Nigel Cooke
Located in New York, NY
Nigel Cooke (Born 1973)
Pyroclastic Fever, 2002
Oil on canvas
60 1/2 x 84 1/2 inches
Signed, titled and dated "NIGEL COOKE 'PYROCLASTIC FEVER' 2002 Nigel C...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Nigel Cooke Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$32,000 Sale Price
20% Off
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Alexis Portilla holds an MFA from Columbia University (1990) and a BFA from Pratt Institute. His work is in more than 250 private collections worldwide and in many international public and corporate collections including The New York Public Library, Harvard University, Pepsi Co., Warner Music Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Penn State University, Norwest Venture Partners, and Mikasa Corporation. He has exhibited internationally at venues from New York to Hong Kong, including the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, Hofstra University Museum in New York, and Monmouth Museum in New Jersey.
Alexis Portilla's large scale pieces like Anemone, Black Elk, Thor Twins, Tokyo, Chromatic Fantasy are spectacular pieces in terms of the atmospheric brushwork, colors and textures. His bold linear lines, use of symbols, pictographs and strong colors create atmospheric abstracts.
“Alexis is a poet in space and a painter of original feeling… He conveys a constant sense of expansion.”
Artist Will Barnet (1911-2012), June 2007
“Using simple forms and creating swathes of rich texture, Alexis Portilla builds atmospheric abstract paintings that convey a sense of time having passed. Brushy areas of color suggest the indeterminacy of memory, while bold linear forms speak for the present." - Meredith Mendelsohn, Art News magazine review
The artist Alexis Portilla obtained his Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia University in 1990, and his BFA at the noted Pratt Institute.
The artist has shown in group and solo exhibitions. His works have been commissioned by major corporations, universities and for private collections.
These pieces and others are available for viewing in Los Angeles.
Instruction
1993-1994 Faculty /Adjunct Instructor
Department of Printmaking
Columbia University New York, NY
Awards
1983 – 1994 HEOP/SEOG Full scholarship
To attend Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
1984-85 Charles A. Dana Internship and
Grant, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Public Commissions:
- April 2007 Penn State University -State College, PA Department of Chemistry
Public Collections:
- 1996 The New York Public Library, New York, NY
Department of Prints and Drawings
Roberta Waddell
Selected Corporate Collections
Harvard Club Cambridge, MA
Meredith and Grew Boston, MA
Farley White Boston, MA
Edwards and Angell Providence, RI
Acadian Asset Management Boston, MA
Proskauer Rose Boston, MA
Mikasa Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
First Atlantic Capital, New York, NY
Warner Brothers, New York, NY
—-
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Bryant University, Smithfield, RI
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
The New York Public Library, New York, NY
Penn State University, State College, PA (commissioned work)
SELECTED PRIVATE AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Collection of Padma Lakshmi
Mikasa Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Pepsi Co., Purchase, NY
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Boston (commissioned work)
Norwest Venture Partners, Palo Alto, CA
Warner Brothers, New York, NY
First Atlantic Capital, New York, NY
Excel, Bermuda
Edwards and Angell, Providence, RI
Meredith and Grew, Boston, MA
Farley White, Boston, MA
Acadian Asset Management, Boston, MA
Proskauer Rose, Boston, MA
New Star Financial, Boston, MA
Cross Harbor Capital, Boston, MA
Weil Gotshal & Manges, Providence, RI
Partner Reinsurance, Pembroke, Bermuda
Hale & Dorr, Washington, DC
Bingham Dana & Gould, Boston, MA
Total System Services, Columbus, OH
Biogen Inc., Cambridge, MA
Millennia, Boston, MA
Renaissance Worldwide, Waltham, MA
Goodwin Proctor & Hoar, Boston, MA and New York, NY
X.L. Pembroke, Bermuda
Odyssey America RE, New York, NY
Greystone Realty Corp., Westport, CT
Limerock Partners, Westport, CT
Michael Page...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nigel Cooke Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$6,800
H 47 in W 65 in D 2 in
Nigel Cooke figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Nigel Cooke figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Nigel Cooke in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Nigel Cooke figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 85 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Simon Casson, Sax Berlin, and Chelsea Davine. Nigel Cooke figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $40,000 and tops out at $40,000, while the average work can sell for $40,000.


