Fortunate Islands. Cooper continues to be interested in the cultural and geographic changes that occur when old explorer routes are retraced and how this retracing leads to a new recognition of how we think and feel about place, define ideas of home and engage with historical spaces.
FORTUNATE ISLANDS
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, April 4t from 6pm until 8pm.
The artist will be present.
Fortunate Islands was a phrase used by sailors from the late 16th century
until the early 19th century to describe the Canary Islands and the Madeiran
Archipelago, not only because their beauty and climate made them as close to
paradise as could be imagined, but also because the islands were considered
the closest to the edge of the Earth before the time of Columbus. The
exhibition begins with photographs of County Kerry, Ireland, the birth place
of St. Brendan called Brendan the Voyager who is believed to have reached
the Canary Islands and perhaps Madeira in the 5th century. The final image
of the exhibition is Faro Orchillo on the Isle of El Hierro, the western
most point on the Canary Islands, which was once literally and is now
metaphorically at the edge of the world. Cooper continues to be interested
in the cultural and geographic changes that occur when old explorer routes
are retraced and how this retracing leads to a new recognition of how we
think and feel about place, define ideas of home and engage with historical
spaces.
Using an 1898 field camera and shooting only one image of each location,
Cooper composes his images so that the scale of the composition is not
always immediately apparent. The printing of the pieces further enhances
the intensely emotive nature of his work. Cooper¹s technical mastery of the
photographic medium is renowned. The images are subtly "under painted" with
selenium and gold resulting in blue and maroon tones, in the photographic
printing process. Cooper¹s editions are usually limited to a maximum of
three prints all of which he makes himself, however his painterly process
ensures that each print is effectively unique.
Thomas Joshua Cooper was born in San Francisco in 1946. Cooper is a member
of the Cherokee nation and in his formative years, lived on Indian
reservations throughout the western United States. He has resided in
Glasgow, Scotland for the past twenty years where he is Professor and Head
of the Department of Photography at The Glasgow School of Art. Cooper has
exhibited widely in both museums and galleries around the world. His work
is included in museum, public and private collections worldwide. In 1998
Cooper was the recipient of an important grant from the Lannan Foundation,
which he has been using, in part, to complete a body of work, 10 years in
the making, entitled The Great River  Rio Grande Crossings  From the
Source to the Sea. The project will culminate in a major exhibition curated
by Michael Govan, director of the DIA Center for the Arts, and in a
comprehensive publication on Cooper¹s work.
Please contact Amy Gotzler at the gallery (212.239.1181) or amy@skny.com for
more information.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11am until
6pm and Saturday from 10am until 6pm.
Image: Thomas Joshua Cooper
Lingering Twilight - The Mid North Atlantic Ocean Ponta da Cruz The Isle of Madeira Portugal Portugal, 2002
silver gelatin print, selenium and gold chloride toned, edition of 3, 39 x 31 inches framed
--
Amy Gotzler.
Associate Director
Sean Kelly Gallery
528 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tel. (212) 239.1181
Fax. (212) 239.2467