Catalogue
JOHN COOPER
Kaleidoscopes
by John Cooper
Kaleidoscope, optical device consisting of mirrors that reflect images of bits of coloured glass in a symmetrical geometric design through a viewer. The design may be changed endlessly by rotating the section containing the loose fragments. The name is derived from the Greek words kalos (“beautiful”), eïdos (“form”), and skopeïn (“to view”). The kaleidoscope was invented by Sir David Brewster about 1816 and patented in 1817. Sold usually as a toy, the kaleidoscope also has value for the pattern designer. The kaleidoscope illustrates the image-forming properties of combined, inclined mirrors. If an object is placed between two mirrors inclined at right angles, an image is formed in each mirror. Each of these mirror images is in turn reflected in the other mirror, forming the appearance of four symmetrically placed objects. If the mirrors are inclined at 60°, a hexagonally symmetrical pattern results from one object producing six regularly placed images. A simple kaleidoscope consists of two thin, wedge-shaped mirror strips touching along a common edge or of a single sheet of bright aluminum bent to an angle of 60° or 45°. The mirrors are enclosed in a tube with a viewing eyehole at one end. At the other end is a thin, flat box that can be rotated; it is made from two glass disks, the outer one ground to act as a diffusing screen. In this box are pieces of coloured glass, tinsel, or beads. When the box is turned or tapped, the objects inside tumble into an arbitrary grouping, and when the diffusing screen is illuminated, the sixfold or eightfold multiplication creates a striking symmetrical pattern. The number of combinations and patterns is effectively without limit.
The Woodcarver And The Bears
Written by Gordon Gilhuly | Lino-cut Illustrations by John Cooper
Monoprints
Rock Paper Rock | Monoprints by John Cooper
The action of retaining memory is, at its simplest form, a chemical process. It involves neurotransmitters and receptors which imprint a chemical signal onto a cell in the brain. Active long term memory is dependent upon the strength of a stimulus encoded in the brain and is often associated with an emotional response, among other things. The images in this collection are of fossilized insects. The titles of the prints are all songs from my recent and distant past, which have played a significant role in pivotal points of my life. Music has always been a very important part of human culture and is deeply etched into the mores of human civilization. It is a very potent force and hearing a particular song can evoke a strong emotional response. Music has an intimate link with emotion and can instantly throw one back to a time and place long passed on the chronological time line, not unlike a time machine (if one existed) or porthole to the past. A fossil is also like a time machine of sorts, in that the fossilized insect is a living record of the day of its death millions of years ago. It is virtually unchanged, except that the fragile chemical compounds, proteins and insect fragments have now been transformed into minerals: rock. That is, through the process of fossilization, the organic elements of the insect have now become mineralized on a cellular level, which is also a chemical process. Like the chemicals imprinting memories in the brain, the minerals have imprinted the memory of the insect into the rock.
Copper Plate Etchings
Higher Ground | Etchings by John Cooper
“I have always had a fascination with insects. They are nature’s perfect hydraulic machines. With their armour, stiff joints, and antennae, they have adapted and survived for millennia. They are stripped down to the most basic state of existence and perceive the world on a chemical level. Yet their societies are of a highly ordered complexity. Without parental guidance, they are natural born engineers, alchemists and masters of camouflage, as their skills are hardwired in. Western culture for the most part ignores them and mainly treats them with disdain. They bite and sting, are banished from our homes and are viewed primarily as pests. But I think bugs are beautiful. Blown up microscopically, they become abstract art: when a butterfly wing is enlarged a thousand times, it has the appearance of a myriad of brush strokes, resembling the beauty of a stained glass window. In my printmaking I experiment with new techniques in the copper plate etching process, combining varied and unconventional ‘ground’ (acid resits) rendering methods. On the plate I apply any combination of hard, soft or lift ground, Sharpie marker or photocopy transfer to create the image of an insect. The plate is then placed in a ferric chloride (acid) bath and the unprotected areas are etched lower to create a ‘relief’ surface into which ink is rubbed. Employing a system invented by Stanley William Hayter involving the use of a soft roller, followed by a hard roller, the plate is inked with two more colours. As the plate and wet paper are run through the press the three colours combine to create a deeply, vibrant and rich image. My intention through the slightly abstracted depiction of insects is to make the seemingly insignificant, interesting and beautiful.”
John Cooper, July 2011
Zinc Plate Etchings
Survivors In A Social Desert | Zinc Plate Etchings by John Cooper
1989-1993
Over the past twenty years we have changed our social climate into an unforgiving barren desert. I believe that the extinction of the middle class, the recent rise in the racist, sex-related and violent crimes, the advent of AIDS, bureaucratic indifference and the honing of manipulative techniques in advertising (guilt and fear of isolation) have all contributed to a drastic change in this culture’s social environment.
The cactus is a child of the desert. He is a survivor, he has a lot to give but his spines prevent you from getting too close. Forced into a self-imposed exile, the cactus has evolved sharp thorns as a result of the harsh environment in which he lives. The cactus is different from the other plants; not having leaves it stays cool from the desert heat in the shadow created by its spines.
The vibrant and brightly coloured imagery of this series of zinc plate etchings is from the viscosity printing process. I wanted to render the interesting cacti shapes paying homage to a certain Impressionist brushstroke as a point of departure. I experiment with the soft ground and sugar lift effects, laid down with a dry brush.
Some of these personifications are rooted in social commentary, others are like self-portraits. In them I want you to find a little of me: my likes, my dislikes, my influences and affections.
Silkscreen Prints
Unpop | Silkscreen Prints by John Cooper
What do you get when you cross a cynical sense of humour with a surreal treatment of popular imagery? What can be found somewhere in between the subliminal and the sublime? What is the difference between ridicule and disdain, contempt and the banal? “Unpop”! Unpop borrows a stark, hard-edged image from Pop Art and at the same time the strange dream-like depth of Surrealism. It is as exclusively none as much as it is all of these things. Born out of photo reproduction and serigraphy, the manipulated image explores the interaction between visual and verbal relationships. Unpop is the marriage of image and title. The process involves a layering of transparent colours to create texture and depth, using bloc-out and grease pencil with the silkscreen process. After the essential blueprint is laid down, the print is completed by the addition of the halftone photo, photo collage and/or photocopy. The edition is consummated with the penciled-in title and two dissimilar ideas become one. It’s as Unpop as you’ll find anywhere, and collectible too!
