Artist Statement: Sculpture
I think of my contemporary figurative sculpture as ceramic artifacts excavated from my own psyche. The totemic figures and faces I sculpt are like relics from an ancient civilization in another dimension. Drawing upon timeless essential human themes such as birth and the need for shelter and security, I attempt to align myself with the shamans and totem makers of our distant past, but in a contemporary context.
In a way, my studio is my dig site; the work I produce hinting at a whole society both strange and marvelous.
Still there, sleeping beneath their own earth, lie the relics I have yet to uncover within myself.
Artist Statement: Etchings
Art is a series of decisions. The hardest part for me is to decide what not to represent in this seemingly boundless world of imagery and feeling. By necessity, I set myself parameters; a medium and a dimension, a yard in which to play.
Etching has proven a satisfying way for me to explore my inner recesses. Using dolls and toys, I am building a world of moods; of tension and tenderness only slightly removed from our own.
Conrad Cooper
P.O. Box 2095, El Prado, NM 87529
(575)776-5153
conradcooper@newmex.com
Education
1993 MFA The Graduate School of Figurative Art of the New York Academy of Art
1991 BFA Parsons School of Design
Teaching
Fall 2008 Drawing II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Fall 2007 Drawing II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Spring 2007 Drawing II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Fall 2006 Drawing II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Spring 2006 Drawing II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Fall 2005 Portraiture I, University of New Mexico, Taos
Spring 2005 Portraiture II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Fall 2004 Portraiture I, University of New Mexico, Taos
Spring 2004 Portraiture II, University of New Mexico, Taos
Recent Shows
'Taos Invites Taos'
Taos Civic Plaza, Taos, NM.
Sept. 26-Oct 13, 2008
'Ten Years of Printmaking at UNM-Taos'
Carlsbad Museum and Art Center, Carlsbad, NM
July 10-August 23, 2008
'Ten Years of Printmaking at UNM-Taos'
UNM Taos Klauer Campus, Taos, NM
Sept 27-Oct 13, 2008
Awards
Blue Ribbon, Taos Invites Taos, 2008
