In 1999 Cooper’s focus shifted from commissioned artworks to his personal artistic development, and this was accompanied by a new direction and emphasis in his work. He turned from the explicitly architectural to concentrate on producing works which speak of personal and emotional states of being in the world, drawing together his interests concerning time, proportion and space and how audiences react to particular atmospheres and resonances. This revision stimulated a deeper examination of mortality, religion, connectivity and exclusion.
He works across a multiplicity of media and is constantly seeking to inform himself and subsequently his audience about the wonders and incongruities of the visual world, continuously venturing outside his comfort zone. An interest in optical illusions and the complex connection between artwork, space and viewer are evident in works such as ‘The Outsider’ and Abracadabra.
Between a rock and a hard place combines these interests with a deeper investigation of the relationship between reason and faith; specifically the way that science is visualised in contemporary culture and the potential these visualisations might possess to disturb or undermine our ethical and spiritual ideas and behaviours. In this work, a body comprised of glazed sectional images (CAT scans)(thought these were digital images of actual slices) hovers in mid-air, held up by small balloons and simultaneously weighed down by bags of earth, suspended between hard rationality and a more ephemeral yet resilient understanding of worldly existence. The inference is that although both interior and exterior of the human can be seen simultaneously from a number of perspectives, there is something else necessary for a more complete understanding of humanity, something that lies beyond rationality or physical and temporal notions of existence.
His recent works continue an exploration of these themes, infused also with his own personal experiences. These disturbing and thought-provoking works also display Cooper’s ability to laugh at himself and his former follies. Time has brought uncertainty in the most positive of senses; works that are visually diverse and open-ended but which also challenge and provoke.
‘The apportionment of space and time are predominant factors in our being and the disruption of these foundations impels us to question and seek to substantiate our presumed reference.’ (Artists statement)
