Johnnie Cooper: Sunset Strip is the first monograph of the British artist's work, joining a curatorial initiative over recent decades to undertake important re-evaluations of the careers of important twentieth- and twenty-first-century artists such as Tess Jaray, William Turnbull and Cuban-born, American Minimalist artist Carmen Herrera.
Johnnie Cooper has, for the past half-century, devoted himself to a tireless investigation into the nature and potential of painting in his rural Worcestershire studio, constantly exploring new principles and processes.
This book provides an opportunity to explore the development of Cooper's practice, from the figurative totems sculpted in his student days to the rich, Abstract Expressionist works of the 1980s and the Minimalist, gestural works on paper of the past decade. Johnnie Cooper: Sunset Strip charts the journey of his signature investigations into colour, line and form.
Born in Wolverhampton, UK, Cooper attended the sculpture course at Staffordshire College of Art, run by internationally renowned sculptor Stuart Osborne. After completing a postgraduate year at Staffordshire University in Fine Art Sculpture, Cooper was awarded a travel bursary and also won a prestigious grant from the Gulbenkian Society to study in Florence. As well as exhibiting in mixed shows throughout the UK over the past 40 years, Cooper has recently shown work in Dallas and Shanghai, and is held in numerous private collections. Cooper has also exhibited with the Free Painters and Sculptors Society, and at the Manchester Academy of Fine Art, the Mall Galleries and the Royal Academy.
