SOLO EXHIBITION | JACKSON, WY
Altamira Fine Art Jackson is pleased to present a new exhibition for James Pringle Cook opening July 6, 2020. Please join us for an Artist Reception Tuesday, July 7, 2020 from 5:30-7:30pm.
The Painted Image
These paintings stem from long cycles of looking at reflections in water. For instance, when I’m trout fishing, I observe the movement of fish in water. They are complicated because they involve my learning and understanding of the paint itself as a medium and how it informs the image I am working with. It’s not a photorealistic rendition of this subject. It’s about what I see, but also about how I paint the thing. It’s a painterly rendition of an image.
I am painting things from memory, from immediate experience. I go out and I sketch. I started painting down in Arizona, and I stayed here primarily because plein air painting is so doable. The weather is ideal for it. The access to public lands is unparalleled.
Painting from life gives you a repertoire of moments where you’ve seen a certain kind of light, a certain kind of mark. It fuels my painting. I don’t paint outdoors as much as I used to, but that volume of work informs me all of the time.
I work with all sorts of devices—paintbrushes, palette knives and plastering tools—to get the kind of paint quality that I want. When I am working on a painting, what I am really after is this flash under my hand of nature. It is when I see the thing that I am painting come alive. That moment is the most important to me. That can inform the whole painting. One series of marks just pops. That’s what I hope my viewer sees—when the painting comes to life. It’s not only a painterly process but a sculptural one as well.
Pre-sales available.
Contact (307) 739-4700, connect@altamiraart.com.
