Andrew Cooks has taken this opportunity to develop a series of paintings on paper that fit precisely into the paneled walls of the north gallery. Working within a concentrated time period of three months and with the destination of this room in mind, he has conceived the work as a series of decorative panels. His layered approach to painting enhances the sense of memory and passage of time, while the varied colors reflect transition from the winter to spring to summer. Without a horizon line the image fragments float and settle back and forth through the complex layers. His vocabulary of forms merges Persian and French formal gardens with textile and ceramic patterns and figures at leisure. By inserting Wave Hill’s garden plan and selected plants the project is anchored to this place. The longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of Wave Hill, Shiraz, and Paris loosely connect inspirational gardens in three locales.

Andrew Cooks has lived in the New York area since 2001. His solo exhibitions include Imagining the Garden at Jenny Port Gallery, the Kensington Florilegium at Herring Island Gallery, and the Drawing Cabinet–empire of Flora at the North Melbourne Town Hall Tower, all in Melbourne, Australia. He has also exhibited at Cité International des Arts in Paris, France, where he has had many summer studio residencies. He was an artist in residence at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, and Agora am Donaukanal in Vienna. He currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY, and SUNY Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, NY. He earned his BS in architecture at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and his Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts in painting at the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne in Australia. For more information www.andrew-cooks.com