The gallery enters the year of its tenth anniversary with the exhibition of the Scottish-based artist Thomas J. Cooper. Thomas J. Cooper’s works are only seemingly oriented towards the tradition of classical landscape photography. For Cooper, landscape primarily means a medium for exploring his emotional world. Elementary experiences, exposure and the meditative pause in the barren landscape condense into his inner landscapes. He himself says of his approach: “It is often in such places that I wait, in order to make my work. I wait to catch up with the silence. I use the silence to gaze into. Gazing is my primary activity. “Staring, or concentrated gazing as a constant sensory experience to become one with the archaic landscape forms, has determined his artistic work for a good 25 years. This minimalist approach characterises a young generation of land artists whose work does not pursue the description of a particular landscape, but rather submits to an existential process on site. Cooper’s still images represent an attempt to visualise a primordial quality of seeing.
The texts often associated with the pictures clarify the sensual experiences and are an equal component of his artworks. They are poetic constructs that become vehicles for messages, or also reflect his own sensitivities. It is always mystical places that Thomas J. Cooper seeks out, in which spirits sometimes begin to dance.
Some of the exhibited works are from the project Llnd book “Dreaming the Gokstadt”, after “Between Dark and Dark” the second in a projected cycle of 5 books, which summarises the archaic landscape forms and the island world of Northern Europe.