ENGLISHMEN VANESSA COOPER
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MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN VANESSA COOPER 1- 22 July 2023 at White Space Art, Totnes whitespaceart.com
( left) Heaven Scent oil on board 100 x 92cms 3 ( above) Royal Mutts oil on board 20
22cms
( cover) Sofa Surfer oil on
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62cms
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Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Vanessa Cooper’s fourth solo exhibition at White Space features her now familiar and life-affirming homages to nature and animals. They are colourful, exuberant paintings with healthy doses of irascible humour. When asked what inspires her, the immediate reply is: “Walking is absolutely crucial. If I don’t walk I can’t paint. Just pottering around town inspires me. It can be anything, the ornaments in someone’s window – what they mean to the occupants. And remember to look up! Watch the sky traffic. There is a pigeon gang in town and seagulls camping on chimney tops, waiting for their opportunity. You see stories around you all the time.”
Living on the south coast in Dorset, in an artistic town, which also attracts city dwellers escaping to the country, she spots some odd things. “The people walking their dogs. Recently I’m seeing a lot of dogs in clothes, being pushed in prams, it strikes me as very funny and quite absurd.”
It feeds her anthropomorphic paintings, where animals take on human characteristics. “They are perfect puppets, animals make wonderful characters. It’s an old literary device. I think the domestic settings comes from my years of raising children. I have four kids. There is a lot of time at home, sitting at the tea table.”
Her passion for the beauty in the everyday extends to nature and can be seen in her zestful still life. “Looking at flowers, they literally blow my mind,” she says. “The colours are incredible. This time of year is incredible. The painting Romeo and Juliet is a love letter to spring. The whole cycle starts again. New life, new beginnings, the hope, that’s Fertility Tree. Nature doesn’t lie, it’s all perfect. Humbling and uplifting.”
“My paintings are a comment on the everyday astonishment, curiosity, affection and gratitude for the world around us, rather the joy, than sadness and anger”
– Vanessa Cooper
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The Taxidermist’s Daughter oil on board 41 x 61cms
Inflated Ideas
oil on board 55 x 62cms
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Uninvited Guest oil on board 56 x 62cms
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Bubbles & Goldie oil on board 36 x 48cms
Bye Bye Bubbles oil on board 40 x 42cms
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Romeo & Juliet oil on board 61 x 61cms
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Home Maker oil on board 38 x 42cms
11 Setting Up Home oil on board 58 x 58cms
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Top O’The Morning To You oil on board 42 x 60cms
The Red Shoes oil on board 55 x 55cms
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Twitchers oil on board 47 x 60cms
Curtain
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A Room With a View oil on board 54 x 64cms
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Fur Babies oil on board 32 x 74cms
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Harpists & Flowers oil on board 42 x 40cms
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Fertility Tree oil on board 90 x 81cms
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Calendula oil on board 30 x 30cms
Published by White Space Art, Totnes to accompany the exhibition Mad Dogs & Englishmen 1 - 22 July 2023 © White Space Art & Vanessa Cooper, all rights reserved This booklet is printed on Symbol Freelife Satin. An environmentally-friendly ECF paper certified FSC® High content of recycled material (minimum quantity guaranteed 40%)
20 ( left) New Moon oil on board 90 x 90cms 21 ( above) Move Over Darling (above) oil on board 39 x 40cms
White Space Art, 72 Fore Street, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5RU 01803 864088 info@whitespaceart.com Making art affordable. Spread the cost with an interest free loan from ownart. Representative 0% APR whitespaceart.com 22 Munchies oil on board 30 x 30cms