Garrett Cook

In my practice I aim to find a suitable way to bridge the gap between paradigmatic academic art history and the separatist attitude of Modernism. I want to create a visual paradox. It is about the push and pull between convincing illusion and the artifice of the surface. For me, this involves constantly building up and breaking down, rendering and destroying, and trying to get a true sense of what it is I’m trying to depict versus what physical paint can do to aid that sensory note. The images are often constructions; nostalgic, domestic, and based on memory, photographs, and perception. Trying to tap into the fuzziness and unreality of memory I depict illusionistically sound spaces that imply a certain feeling of the past while ultimately being rooted in the fact that they are fabrications. Using a two-dimensional medium such as painting I allow myself the ability to “trick” the viewer into believing that they are witnessing a real thing or a real memory while maintaining a surface tension that is irrefutably false.
 
Education:
The New York Academy of Art, New York, NY     May 2014
Master of Fine Art
3.94 GPA
 
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY May 2010
Bachelor of Science, Studio Art
3.6 GPA, Cum Laude with Departmental Honors
 
 
Awards/Residencies:
Belles Artes Mexico City Residency, June 2013
 
Lived in Centro Historico, Mexico City by myself for the month of June, painting on site. Was granted full airfare, living accommodations, and a stipend.
 
Bob Colacello Artist Grant, May 2013
Received $8,000 off my tuition for the following year of my MFA.
 
NYAA Incoming Outstanding Artist Grant, September 2012