Detail of the work pictured above
Courttney Cooper creates elaborate map-like drawings of his home town, Cincinnati, at a fantastic progressive art studio in Cincinnati: Visionaries and Voices. Working from a vast memory, Cooper's ballpoint pen works on paper are faithful to the complex layout and architecture of his city. These large-scale works are the result of a detailed process that is difficult to fathom, accurately recording the time of year, current events, and modifying previous drawings to reflect modifications to the landscape. From Visionaries and Voices:
" Courttney Cooper walks the streets of the city, committing the places he visits to memory. Culling observations for cartographic translation in the studio, these “maps” take form on pieces of repurposed paper, from his day job at Kroger, which he glues together creating additional pictorial space as needed. “Bic” pen line drawings of Cincinnati neighborhoods undulate across the constructed surface." (V+V)
Cooper's work is currently on view with fellow V+V artists Robert Bolubasz and Roxann Panetti in their current exhibition "Maps and Legends," at their Tri-County location (225 Northland Blvd) until July 24th. Cooper has exhibited previously at the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2013, Western Exhibitions (Chicago) in 2012, and extensively in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, including the Contemporary Art Center and Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington, KY.
