Artists
Cook, James
About the Artist
James Cook is a painter who is in love with painting, with the feel of paint, with its smell, with its application, with its color, with its movement on the canvas. He paints quickly creating richly colored and exciting surfaces. Indeed, his bravura use of paint is akin to the Abstract Expressionists; unlike them, however, he provides the viewer with a recognizable reality, ordered by his own personal vision and controlled by his technical mastery. In subject matter and the interpretation of that subject, Cook's is an American vision which owes much to tradition, but it is tradition that is, in the artist's hands, fully redefined taking on a new, personal, but very important meaning.
The paintings are a consummate demonstration of years of hard work, of looking at and, literally, inhaling the landscape and rendering it in a sure and dramatic way. These are the paintings of an artist totally in control of his medium and totally sure of what he does. In them he achieves that elusive goal for which all artists strive: he realizes his personal artistic vision in dramatic and uncompromising terms when he presents that vision to us and we comprehend its meaning and intent.
Since 1982, James Cook exhibited in over 40 solo exhibitions, and since 1980, he exhibited in over 100 group exhibitions.
BORN: Topeka, Kansas, 1947
ONE-PERSON
EXHIBITIONS:
2008 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Meyer East Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Robert Steele Gallery, NYC
2007 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Cline Dale Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 Robert Steele Gallery, NYC
Cline Dale Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2005 Cline Fine Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
Meyer-Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2004 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID.
Eric Firestone Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Robert Steele Gallery, NYC
2003 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID.
Vanier Gallery, Tucson, AZ.
Dennis Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
2002 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2001 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID.
Davis/Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2000 Vanier Fine Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID (Aug.)
1999 Davis/Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Eyre/More Gallery, Seattle, WA
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1998 Vanier Fine Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1997 Norman Eppink Gallery, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
1996 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum ID
1995 Davis/ Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL, “New Paintings”
1994 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
West Bend Art Museum, West Bend, WI
Tatistcheff & Co., New York, NY
1993 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1992 Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, “James Cook: New Paintings”
1991 Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ
Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1990 Tatistcheff & Co., NYC
1989 Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1987 Tatistcheff & Co., NYC, “Rural Western Narrative”
1984 Tatistcheff & Co., NYC, “Mississippi Chronicle”
1983 Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc, WI
1982 Frumkin/Struve Gallery; Chicago, IL
GROUP
EXHIBITIONS:
2007 Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 Robert Steele Gallery, NYC
Cline Fine Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Meyer Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2005 “Homage to the Flint Hills”, traveling show:
Shafer Gallery, Barton County Community College, Great Bend, KS
Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS
Manhattan Arts Center, Manhattan, KS
Junction City Art Center, Junction City, KS
2004 “Homage to the Flint Hills”, traveling show:
Ernie Miller Nature Center, Olathe, KS
Cowley County Community College, Arkansas City, KS
opeka-Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, KS
2001 “The Art of Collaboration: Garner Tullis Studio”, Tucson Museum of
Art, Tucson, AZ
Robert Steele Gallery, New York City, NY
2000 “Reinventing the Landscape III”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
“Flora-A Common Thread VI”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Summer Show, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Summer Show, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Joseph Gierek Fine Arts, Tulsa, OK
Davis/Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
“Works on Paper”, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, Ill.
1999 “Poetics of Place II”,Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID (Two-Person)
“From Herre to the Horizon: Artists of the Rural Landscape”, Whatcom
Museum of History & Art, Bellingham, WA.
1998 “Open Skies”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
“20th Annual Holiday Show”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
“The Last Picture Show”, Davis/Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
“Garner Tullis: Art of Collaboration”, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1997 Art Fair Seattle, Seattle, WA
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
PLAIN PICTURES: Images of the American Prairie, Joslyn Art Museum,
Omaha, NE; Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX
1996 PLAIN PICTURES: Images of the American Prairie, University of Iowa
Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
“Landscape - The Spirit of Place”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Art Fair/Seattle, Gail Severn Gallery, Seattle, WA
1995 Art Fair/Seattle, Gail Severn Gallery, Seattle, WA
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1994 Eitelgeorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN: “Invitational 1994"
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID: “In the Spirit of Nature”
Tatistcheff & Co., NYC
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1993 Traveling Exhibition: “Art and the Law”, West Publishing Company”
Kennedy Galleries, NYC; Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA; Loyola
Law School, Los Angeles, CA; James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, IL;
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
“Seventeenth Annual Holiday Group Show, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1992 Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Stonewall Foundation Contemporary Southwest Images #7, “James Cook New Paintings”, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
“Sixteenth Annual Holiday Group Show”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
“The New Landscape”, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
1991 Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1990 Tatistcheff & Co., NYC: “Kindred Spirits: Three in the Landscape: James
Cook, Richard Crozier, Harry Orlyk”
Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Boulder Art Center, Boulder, Co.; University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY;
Pueblo Art Center, Pueblo, CO: “75th Anniversary Rocky Mountain
National Park Exhibition”
1989 Hearst Gallery, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA
Mesa Southwest Museum, Mesa, AZ: “Into Superstition”
University Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ: “The New/Old Landscape”
Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL: “American Art:
Contemporary Landscape”
Tatistcheff & Co., NYC: “Tenth Anniversary Exhibit”
Sherry French Gallery, NYC: “Trains and Planes, The Influence of
Locomotion in American Paintings,” a traveling exhibition to Robertson
Center for the Arts and Sciences, Binghamton, NY; Evansville Museum of
Arts and Sciences, Evansville, IN (1990); National Academy of Sciences,
Washington, D.C.; The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ (1990).
Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, IL
E. Hutton Gallery, NYC: “Works on Paper”
Southern Allegheny Museum of Art, Loretta, PA: “Art & the Environment”
1988 Mesa Southwest Museum, Mesa, AZ: “Superstition Mountain Horseback
Painting Exhibition”
Wilson Art Center, Rochester, NY: “The Persistence of Romantic
Landscape in American Art”
Tatistcheff & Co., NYC: “People, Places, Things”
Southern Allegheny Museum of Art, Loretta, PA: “The Face of the Land”
E.F. Hutton Gallery, NYC: “Works on Paper”
Traveling Exhibition: “Art and the Law”, West Publishing Company,
traveling to: Muscarelle Art Museum, Williamsburg, VA; Minnesota Art
Museum, St. Paul, MN
“Invitational Exhibition”, Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona Art Department, Tucson, AZ
“Nature’s Power”, St. Paul’s Companies, St. Paul, MN
1987 Traveling Exhibition: “Art of the Law”, West Publishing Company,
traveling to: Plaza Gallery, Bank of America World Headquarters, San
Francisco, CA; Albrecht Art Museum, St. Joseph, MO.
1986 Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO: “Watercolor U.S.A. 1986:
Monumental Image”
Binder Gallery, Dallas, TX: “The American Landscape”
Metropolitan Museum & Art Center, Coral Gables, FL: “Adventures in
Image Making”
E.F. Hutton Collection, NYC: “Short Stories”
Tatistcheff & Co., NYC: “Group Exhibition”
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA: “Twentieth
Century Watercolors and Drawings
Squib Gallery, Princeton, NJ: “The New American Scene”
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ. “Arizona Biennial”
1985 William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco, CA: “American Realism”
“The New American Scene”, Squibb Gallery, Princeton
1984 Sherry French Gallery, NYC: “Mood in Landscape”
1983 Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc, WI
1981 Navy Pier, Chicago, IL: “Art 1981"
Peter M. Davis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Bell, Chicago, IL: “Contemporary American Watercolors”
1980 Frumkin/Struve, Chicago, IL: “Watercolor 1980"
MUSEUM
COLLECTIONS:
Boise Art Museum, Idaho
Des Moines Art Center, Iowa
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona
Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
Rahr-West Museum, Wisconsin
Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe
Indiana University Museum of Art, Bloomington
University of Minnesota Museum of Art
University of Utah Museum of Art, Salt Lake City
South Dakota Museum of Fine Arts, SD
New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe
Museum of Contemporary Art, Osaka, Japan
Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson
Illinois State Museum, Springfield
State University at Albany Museum of Art, New York
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson
Yuma Art Center, Yuma, Arizona
The Ackland Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Princeton University Collection, Princeton, New Jersey
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
PUBLIC
COLLECTIONS:
Allied Bank of Texas, Houston
A.T.&T., New York, New York
The Bank of New York, New York, New York
Canadian Petroleum Collection, Calgary, Alberta
Cargill Incorporated, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Chemical Bank, New York, New York
Continental Illinois National Bank, Chicago
E.F. Hutton, New York, New York
Emporia State University, Kansas
Ernst & Whinney, New York, New York
First Bank of Evanston, Illinois
F.M.C. Corporation, Chicago, Il.
IBM, Stuttgart, Germany
The Kemper Group, Chicago, Il.
LaSalle National Bank, Chicago, Il.
Mr. And Mrs. William Janss, Sun Valley, ID
Marsh, McClellan, New York, New York
Mutual of New York, New York, New York
Northern Trust Company, Chicago, Il.
NYNEX, New York, New York
Otis Elevator Company, Connecticut
Owens - Illinois, Toledo, OH
Pacific Enterprises Oil Company of Dallas, Texas
Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, New York, New York
Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, New Jersey
Quarles & Brady Law Firm, Tucson, Arizona
The St. Paul Companies, St. Paul, Minnesota
Sears, Roebuck & Company, Chicago, Il.
Sonoita Enterprises, Tucson, Arizona
Stephens, Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas
Texaco, White Plains, New York
Texaco, London, England
Texaco, Kyoto, Japan
Thomas Duke Company, Troy, Michigan
Transwest/NCH Corporation, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson-Pima Library, Tucson, Arizona
U.S. Tobacco, Greenwich, Connecticut
West Publishing, St. Paul, Minnesota
United Airlines, Chicago, Il.
Bank of America, San Francisco, California
Ashland Enterprises, Tucson, Arizona
Yellowstone National Park Headquarters, Yellowstone, Wyoming
GALLERIES:
Robert Steele Gallery, New York City
Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
Cline Dale Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Meyer East Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Joseph Gierek Fine Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho
Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
PUBLICATIONS AND
TELEVISION:
Western Art Collector, January 2008
American Art Collector, December 2005
New American Painting No. 36, 2001
New American Painting No. 12, 1997
The New Mexican, January 1993, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tucson Weekly, November 1992, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Citizen, November 1992, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Citizen, March 1991, Tucson, Arizona
Images Showing Locomotion’s Effect, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1990
Into the Superstitions, January 1989, Channel 12 News, Phoenix, Arizona
The Arizona Daily Star, February 1989, KUAT television
The Territorial, January 1989, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Citizen, January 1989, Tucson, Arizona
Arts Magazine, February 1987
American Artist, Watercolor 1988 Issue
Dallas Morning News, September 12, 1986, Dallas, Texas
American Realism: Twentieth Century Watercolors and Drawings, Harry N.
Abrams, Jr., NY 1986
New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 1986, New Orleans, Louisiana
Chicago Tribune, May 1982, Chicago, Illinois
Sunday Sun Times, May 1982 Chicago, Illinois
American Artist, February 1982
Chicago Sun-Times, May 1981, Chicago, Illinois
Ocular Magazine, “New Faces, New Images”, Fall 1981
“Arts Beat”, James Cook, KUAT (Ch. 6), 11/10/92, Tucson Museum of Art
Solo Show, Tucson, Arizona
“Arts Beat”, Fine Art for Fine Causes, KUAT (Ch. 6), March 1990, Tucson,
“Arts Beat”, KUAT (Ch. 6), 1993, Tucson, Arizona
“Arts Beat”, James Cook and George Harkins, Davis Gallery, Tucson, Arizona,
KUAT (Ch. 6) 1994
Art Talk, Cover Story 1999
New American Painting, Vol. 12, 1997
New American Painting, Vol. XXIV, 1999
American Artists, February 2000
IMC Inc.