Quick Facts
Biography
Adam Cooley is an American artist whose works include painting, sculpture, performance art, fashion design, lithography, interior design and film. He currently lives between Osaka, Japan and New York.
Early life
Adam Cooley was born in Rochester, New York. His family moved over 11 times to various parts of New York State. He grew up in a small rural community in Western New York State.
The direction of his work was decided early in life and at the age of twenty-two he suffered the first of several heart attacks due to a medical condition which influenced the themes of his artwork and was a major catalyst for the direction of his future works, abundant output and deliberate, focused work-ethic.
Drawn towards travelling while still young, he wandered Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He sojourned through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Africa, Qatar, and Taiwan, while continuing to paint and develop as a performance artist. He was encouraged by the people he met, many of whom were artists themselves; people of diverse backgrounds and talents whose influence gave him inspiration and openness that imbued his work as an artist and enriched his character and bearing towards life.
He eventually settled in Osaka, Japan in the early 1990s and continues to live, work and exhibit there most of the year.
Dominant themes
Cooley's work is influenced by philosophy, religion, esotericism, alchemy, and nature. There are elements of symbolism, medieval art, Egyptian art and modern elements like fantasy and steam-punk found throughout his works.
Works often juxtapose traditional figurative images with flat geometrical objects. The utilization of various materials is notable, a favorite being metal-leaf gilded and aged, rusted and scraped. Cracks and tears in many of his paintings result from purposefully distressing the surfaces often requiring months of aging before completion.
The highly symbolic images are often overly fantastic and certainly suggest a strong surrealist influence. Cooley is fascinated by the theme of transformation, and this is realized in all of his chosen disciplines, whether it be painting, sculpture or performance art. It is not only the subject of the paintings that reflect this idea but the techniques and processes used in their development. This even extends to how he exhibits his art. At an exhibition in Kyoto, at the Gallery Maronie, the works themselves were manipulated, touched, and handled by spectators. The resulting change, wear and tear that emerged was intended by the artist as part of the artwork itself. One such work – a painted ball contained in a sandbox that spectators were encouraged to roll, touch, and move – helped in the transformation of the ball by tearing and scratching its painted surface. Other works are laden with metals and gold-leaf, which he transforms using processes such as oxidization and aging to finish his pieces. Often it can take months or even years of aging before the artist considers the works done. It is this transformation of the work itself, a physical object, which mirrors the more fundamental concept, namely transformation of the spirit that is often the subject of his paintings, sculptures and performances.
Artwork
Cooley began exhibiting works – mostly paintings – along with performance art pieces while living in New York. He regularly exhibited considerable numbers of works after settling in Asia during the early 1990s.
Most of the works fall under painting, sculpture, and performance art. His early paintings were frequently acrylic but have become predominantly mixed media due to his strong interest in permutable materials. His most recent works are notable for their gilded metal leaf and aging processes augmented by oxidization. Subtle patinas along with other forms of aging and distressing are integral to the texture and appearance of these pieces.
Sculptures are displayed alongside paintings in most of his exhibitions. The sculptures also demonstrate a strong textural appearance with the aging and distressing of metals being a distinct feature.
The artist has created and executed various performance art pieces throughout his career, which have rarely been documented. One notable exception is a piece entitled "Bonsai (2003)" which features themes such as transformation and bondage and was documented in the book and corresponding 4-hour documentary series, which was first broadcast on public television in fall 2005. Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Karin Muller.
Cooley has created in multiple art forms including performance art, interior design, fashion design, painting, sculpture, lithography, printmaking and film. In 2001, selected works – including the painting "Cooking Dinner for the Little Lady" – were exhibited in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. The museum has also procured two of his works: "Cockadoodle Surprise" and "The Black Beauty" for their permanent collection. He has the honor of being the first living foreign artist to have a solo exhibition in the Daimaru and Hankyu Department stores, something even famous Japanese artists consider to be an artistic distinction.
In 1998, an exhibit of over 70 works, entitled "Anella", was held at the Maronie Art gallery in Kyoto, Japan. The concept was to exhibit artworks in a barrier free environment in order to broaden the sensual appreciation of art. The works themselves were all highly textured and tactile. They were placed in low positions, allowing spectators to enjoy through touch as well as visual sensation. He approached the Nippon Lighthouse Organization (organization for the blind and visually handicapped) who were excited by the idea and helped to publicize his exhibition. This exhibit allowed visually-impaired spectators to experience otherwise traditional artworks through the sense of touch. The exhibit consequently became highly publicized, with all of the major newspapers – including The Mainichi Newspaper, Asahi Newspaper and The Daily Yomiuri – covering the show.
His works sometimes demonstrate a playful eclecticism, with respect to theme and technique, as shown by an exhibit held in Kyoto in 1999. The exhibit featured amulets constructed of wood and gilded gold-leaf with glass. The "hand-crafted wooden charms" suggested a contrast with modern consumerism and the traditional spirituality that is associated with Japanese animism and the Shinto religion. The small hand-sized amulets were entitled "Kamisamagotchi", as a play on the Japanese word for God: "Kamisama" and the ubiquitous "Tamagotchi" so popular in Japan at the time.
Appearances in other media
Cooley's paintings are featured in the Japanese film "Spit and Honey" (唾と蜜, Tsuba to Hachimitsu, "Spit and Honey"), by film maker Kenji Maki.
Selected exhibitions
- ECD Chirst (1994), The Blue Nile Gallery, Osaka, Japan.
- Anella (1998), Maronie Gallery, Kyoto, Japan.
- Adam Cooley: Introspection (1999), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan.
- The Golden Woman (2002), The Red Brick Warehouse Osaka, Japan.
- The Mask (2012), Hankyu Department Store Osaka, Japan.
- The Silver Key (2013), Gallery Chayamachi Osaka, Japan.
- The Lost Empire (2014), Gallery Chayamachi Osaka, Japan.
- Mechanical Animals (2014), Daimaru Department Store Kyoto, Japan.
- ICoN (2015), Gallery Chayamachi Osaka, Japan.
- 111 Stars (2016), Gallery Chayamachi Osaka, Japan.
- The Fairy Ring (2017), Gallery Chayamachi Osaka, Japan.