Christopher Cook

There are two distinct groups of my work in the exhibition. Four images are from a sequence of 49 works made between 2016 and 2020 that evolved from reverential homages to Dutch Golden Age still life into images that question the undertow and legacy of colonialism and capitalism, undermining the poised complacency of the genre by adding contemporary elements. Two works here were made in Nicosia, Cyprus, in which domestic still life tableaux are transposed into the no-man’s land of ‘The Green Line’ that lies between the Greek and Turkish sections of the island. Still life with Pangolin is a reworking of the Clara Peeters painting in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, in which the insertion the Chinese bowl, the gold coins and the unfortunate Covid-implicated pangolin, problematise the colonialist assumptions of the 17th century. The second group of works was made this year after an extended visit to Taiwan and Japan. In Kyoto solipsism the reference is to the habit of some Buddhist temples to replace an image of the Buddha with a mirror to speak of self-knowledge, hence the saintly figure of the reflection is in fact a self-portrait with mobile phone. Indicator refers to the foreground shadow which points out the bashful icon/figurine in front of a shrine, whilst Twice Risen evokes water running over stone, encouraging the spirit, along with the vegetation. www.christophercook.cc