"Finding Physis" with Luke Hamel Cooke
This project brought new life to the large collection of sculptures made by Luck Hamel Cooke over a twelve year period. By cultivating high-quality images and delving into the detailed narrative which explore the history, intention, and imbued within each sculpture. It formed a well rounded portfolio of an emerging career.
This project began like many others: by mistake. At a book launch, a rather savvy and fashionable character approached me and invited me to the pub. We delved into topics ranging from death to the weather, and ultimately to art. It was at this point that this relative stranger began to talk in a passionate fury about an artist. An artist who, over the preceding years, had developed a highly unique and intensely precise method for making sculptures. I was shown the Instagram profile of Luke Hamel Cooke, and it became evident that this artist possessed immense talent. Subsequently, a meeting with the artist was organized, and this project began in its tentative steps.
Cooke needed help in three regards - portfolio design, contacts in the art world, and ultimately a friend to discuss and critique his work. On the bookends, I did a very good job, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I wrote in-depth about the iterative nature of the sculptures – the variety of forms and the resulting multiplicity of potential compositions made possible by lighting or positioning which allows them to remain in transition or in a contingent state. Growth, transformation, space, and time are fundamental principles in Cooke's work, and ones he explores with an intimate delicacy that mirrors that of nature.
This is where our general narrative arose - Physis. This Greek term encompasses a dual meaning, referring to both the entity itself and its "nature" that arises from a developmental process. It denotes the fundamental cause of all emergence, with an emphasis on growth as the ultimate expression. Consequently, "physis" encompasses various facets, including but not limited to "growth," "natural form," and "appearance." Luke's work embodies the very essence of such a concept - a precise exploration of beauty at its most pure, fertility at its most fertile, and an abundance of time and space. These themes shape the varityped structures that Cooke discovers more than he creates.
This project is currently ongoing