Fractured Light: Johnnie Cooper, Collages 1992–1997

Fractured Light focuses on a key body of work by the British artist Johnnie Cooper, which was instrumental in his transformation from sculptor to painter. Throughout the 1990s, with a renewed dedication Cooper embarked on an industrious and experimental trajectory with paint and collage.

These works on paper, made by layering multiple strips of paintings, were directly inspired by a series of large assemblage works he constructed during the late 1980s, when the culmination of his work in art education brought a new found freedom. The view from a new studio in rural Worcestershire conjured fresh inspirations and instilled a fascination with the ever-changing colour, shape and light values that fractured through a nearby woodland over the course of a day.

This book documents an important part of Cooper’s oeuvre and is a must for enthusiasts of Johnnie’s work or anyone who is into British Expressionism or abstract art. It accompanies a forthcoming exhibition, also called Fractured Light, and follows Johnnie Cooper: Sunset Strip, a major monograph on the artist in 2019, also published by Black Dog Press.