Monica Cook


Bio:

A native of Dalton, GA, Monica Cook received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA. She further studied in the off-campus program of the Savannah College of Art and Design, in New York, the Studio Residency Program of the School of Visual Arts, New York, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine. Her work has appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the US and abroad, including YouTube Play Biennial, Guggenheim Museum, New York, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin. Solo exhibitions include those at Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA, ACP Annual Public Art Commission, Atlanta, GA and Postmasters Gallery, New York, the latter of which currently represents her. Cook’s work is included in numerous private and public collections and was recently acquired by the 21 C Museum Hotel Collection, Louisville, KY. Monica Cook lives and works in New York.


Roots - 2018 Vintage mirror, glass, interference plastic sheeting, magnifying sheets, copper tape, copper/tin solder, aqua resin, acrylic paint, wood, and steel frame - 52”x48”x28”


Roots - 2018 - Vintage mirror, glass, interference plastic sheeting, magnifying sheets, copper tape, copper/tin solder, aqua resin, acrylic paint, wood, and steel frame - 52”x48”x28”


Snowsuit - 2015
wax, pigment, fur coats, aqua-resin, fiberglass,
30"L x 40"W x 28"H 


Snowsuit - 2015 (detail)
wax, pigment, fur coats, aqua-resin, fiberglass,
30"L x 40"W x 28"H


Snowsuit - 2015 (detail)
wax, pigment, fur coats, aqua-resin, fiberglass,
30"L x 40"W x 28"H


In - 2016
coolant tank, barnacles, resin, aqua resin, sweat band, rubber tubing, sea urchin spines, telephone cord
8.75 x 11 x 8 inches


In - 2016
coolant tank, barnacles, resin, aqua resin, sweat band, rubber tubing, sea urchin spines, telephone cord
8.75 x 11 x 8 inches


Statement:

Cook scours the streets, the trash, the networks of global commercial distribution, for pieces that become her work. Feathers, latex, glass grapes, dishsoap bottles, industrial molds, pantyhose, glitter, rubber nipples, fur, the treasured and the overlooked and the discarded, mix in a sublime jumble that reveals the omnivorous imagination of the artist. The colors are dreamy pastels, arctic whites, fleshy petal-tones, glossy intestinal shades. Everything that enters the work is recognizable – mundane products or biological materials – estranged from familiarity by the breath of life that inhabits the finished forms. The theme of this work is sacrifice: The implicitly feminine sacrifice of one’s own body, not on a field of battle or a punishing cross, but in the work of nurturing, nourishment, and love. [by Sarah Lippek]