Michael David Cook – The Portrayal of Reality in His Landscape Paintings
It is an undeniable fact that certain paintings exude serenity, captivate the viewer, and evoke a profound sense of stillness. Looking at them is akin to gazing into an endless void. Each time one gazes upon such paintings, they discover new intricacies and experience fresh emotions that compel them to return for further contemplation. Each genre of painting possesses a unique emotional essence, and every stroke of the brush on the canvas conveys its own narrative. Elements drawn from reality serve as a significant source of inspiration for renowned works of art. In terms of painting, looking like reality is what art historians call naturalism. The art of a painting can be defined by its distortions of reality, which is one reason why Michael Cook’s painting is considered the portrayal of multiple realities.
The Portrayal of Reality in Michael David Cook’s Landscape Paintings
He was born to Richard Cook and Doris Elenor Cook on July 16, 1953, in Ramey, Puerto Rico. He has made a name for himself in the world of art and has been listed as a notable Artist and educator by Marquis Who’s Who.
Cook’s art approach focuses on abstraction and visual perception through various media and viewpoints. The “Camino Real” series primarily portrays road surfaces featuring pebble textures, swirling and asymmetrical patterns of tar repairs, cracks, and arbitrary markings. Cook then overlays the concrete depictions with abstractions that include line drawings reminiscent of a map or trail, as well as doodling and writing that appears to be from a notebook. Each piece appears to be located in a single location. Yet, altogether, they symbolize the Artist’s long trip consisting of many long bike rides on the highways of New Mexico.
These excursions allow Cook to reflect on the intricacies of many landscapes, not just literal physical representations but also more abstract social, political, and cultural landscapes, and how reality may be a metaphor for the abstract.
In a more American tone, his paintings question the meaning of landscape. The paintings of the Instructions series transform the American fairy tale into a horror shop. Cook’s work challenges the meaning of landscape in the American context. His painting, “Instructions: Hook,” depicted a demonic emcee drawing aside a yellow curtain to show the Hollywood sign. The dour silhouette of the emcee creates terrain with the curtain border that asks questions about the undue influence of stardom in American life.
Cook’s journey as an artist traces back to when he first got exposure to art during his vacations in London. Cook graduated from Central High School in Bushey, England, in 1971. Cook went to the United States in 1975 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida State University. Cook was a visiting artist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Department Champaign’s of Arts and Design in 1978. While a visiting artist at the University of Illinois. Cook became inspired by nuclear and thermonuclear technology as well as alchemical notation and his passion for science is evident in much of the work he has done so far.
Cook’s nuclear and thermonuclear art is seen as reimagining the nuclear force. Cook has defied painting visual standards and procedures throughout his work and for years to question their aloofness from genuine experience. He extended the concept of “landscape” beyond the literal depiction of geography by employing a method of visual semiotics.
Cook is a well-known educator and lecturer who has shared his knowledge with many emerging artists at the University of Illinois, the University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the University of New Mexico. Michael Cook has had over 20 individual exhibits. Exhibitions showcasing his works have been held in numerous cities, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Cambridge, and NY, among others. His work has received extensive critical acclaim and has been included in numerous publications, private collections, and the permanent collections, The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and the University of New Mexico Art Museum among others.
As Associate Dean for Technology at the University of New Mexico, he designed and helped execute the Arts Technology Center, which became ArtsLab. He also designed “Nature and Technology” as part of the D.H. Lawrence Ranch Workshops at UNM, an innovative intensive field study workshop using a framework in several department classes. Simply put, Michael Cook has spent most of his life painting, drawing, and exploring what it means to be a sentient human.
