Judy Cooke ~ Another Tarp and more, including Rauschenberg

Judy Cooke created a series of work in the mid-seventies and entitled it Tarps. Corridors, shown above, is from that series. Following the theme of Celbration After the Fact, our piece of the week here at Fifty Two Pieces, Cooke took weathered canvas sections which had been pieced together and then outlined rich, black shapes using charcoal. Like the shapes from "Celebration", the shapes are both geometric and organic leading to a sensual feel. That sensuality was expressed by one viewer of "Celebration" with this statement: "I see the shapes of bodies; it's as if the canvas was used as a cover over two people." These were powerful abstractions for the seventies.

Oil (shown here on the left) is one of Judy Cooke's most recent works. In Oil, she has used a panel of aluminum plates painted over with black and with a panel of rubber on the right. Much like in Celebration After the Fact, Cooke has used staples to attach the aluminum to the frame. In his article on the website PORT, Arcy Douglass speaks to how Judy Cooke used these industrial materials in a very deliberate manner even though they may seem spontaneous on first viewing. His comparison of Cooke's work with Robert Rauschenberg's combines is well worth reading. In addition Jeff Jahn commented on Douglass' post with this statement:

Probably Cooke's best outing since the fantastic tarp series of the mid 70's (but presented recently). I hope she expands these combination pieces to a similar range. Also using materials that reference the automobile and healthcare gives them a topical quality that might really take off if used in larger projects.

As a side note, Judy Cooke's Celebration After the Fact was hung next to Robert Rauschenberg's Cardbird VI for nearly two years. Much like Douglass who compared works like Cooke's Oil with Rauschenberg's Factum I and II, the curatorial staff at the Portland Art Museum had connected Cooke with Rauschenberg. Shown below are the two pieces, side-by-side once again.

Judy Cooke ~ Celebration After the Fact, Includes Staples and Masking Tape

Celebration After the Fact is a large piece. When you approach this piece in the gallery at the Portland Art Museum, you'll see that it hangs on the wall beginning above your head and ending about a foot above the floor. It's also quite wide – your outstretched arms might not extend past the edges. Looking closer at the edges and you'll see grommets. Judy Cooke chose an old canvas tarp as the support for this abstract painting. It's canvas but canvas of an unconventional format for an artist –– unusual materials and materials used in a different fashion are some of the hallmarks of modern art.

Now look for four very light colored rectangles. There is one in each of the two bottom quadrants very near the grommets on the dark blue strips. Those rectangles were pieces of canvas that had been stitched to the original tarp, removed and then re-applied to the canvas, but with of all things, staples. Look closely again and you'll see strips of white running down the center of the canvas. That's masking tape that has been applied to split the canvas in two. The left half and right half are only symmetrical in size not in content. The canvas appears to be divided again by design elements–– an upper half and a lower half making four quadrants. Now look for thinner strips of white adding more design elements. There's one on the right hand leg of that triangle in the lower right quadrant. As your eye moves down to that triangle you'll also notice the only oval shape. The way it is placed and with the shading that Cooke has applied around its edge, it appears to be the entrance to the inner world of that canvas. Should you ever visit the piece, you'll notice subtleties of colors –– blues, blacks, greys and tans. Some of those combine to almost purplish tones. You'll also see what could very well be original "mold" stain on the canvas.

This is truly a work that will keep your interest if you spend a few minutes with it. While you're doing that, you'll probably find yourself wondering what Celebration After the Fact Judy Cooke was alluding to in her title. And for those who are at the Portland Art Museum, look down in that bottom left hand quadrant. You'll see Cooke has penciled in CELEBRATION AFTER THE FACT Judy Cooke 1972.

Celebration After the Fact, Judy Cooke

Celebration After the Fact is a pencil and ink collage on canvas Cooke made in 1972.
Is it sculpture? It is more sculpture to me than a drawing or painting, even though it is on canvas.
In this found item collage consider this quote by the artist; "I was having forms built that resembled the shapes contained within my paintings. What was inside, became the outside." There is a recurring theme in Cooke's work of the relationship of the containing space to the shapes within.
Some of her other pieces in the PAM collection include Dilemma, a 14 by 96 inch long oil, rubber and wax on wood:

and Semaphore,even skinnier at 7.25 x 96 inches made of oil and aluminum on wood.

Both pieces were done in the early 90's.
In an interview from Dialogue with fellow artists Lucinda Parker, Bob Hanson and Cie Goulet, Judy Cooke said "I am very concerned with the idea of an extended line; I've carried the idea around in my head for a very long time. I deal with this extended horizontal because it reminds you in a sense of your relationship to the horizon."
I love that sentiment, so poetic. I also love to think of my relationship to the horizon when I encounter Celebration After the Fact because this canvas has a story of travel with all it's holes showing, telling me it once had a job to do. And a canvas with a job to dO seems like something that should be at sea. Horizon and Sea. Cooke goes on to say "But my approach has nothing to do with depicting nature. My paintings are very concrete, very object like, very specific and kind of blocky." So there is her desire to evoke a horizon and to do itabstractly,that you sense it even in her unnatural blocky specific objects.
It is just such an object that we will dissect this week on 52 Pieces.