Allegory1

Andrew Cooper M.A. (R.C.A.)

Andrew Cooper
(1956 - )

Allegory of Abundance and Denial
2007
Installation, C Print, mixed media
14 ft x 11 ft x 9 ft.

Cooper’s rich, multilayered installation draws on his established use of elements and motifs from architecture, sculpture and painting to discuss the nature of addiction. The title references a drawing by Botticelli and paintings by Breugal and Van Savoy, in which the cornucopia overflows, symbolising the allegorical figures of Peace, Luck and Concord. The Horn of Plenty has the power to fill itself with everything its owner might desire to bestow contentment or harmony. Cooper’s vision of the relationship between desire, providence and plenty is one in which the cornucopia spews out it’s contents, cradling the addict who can only feel whole and human in its morbid embrace; the downward spiral through craving and obsession reducing him to a solitary and jaundiced figure, seemingly hovering close to death.

The installation incorporates the artist’s studio. Constructed within this personal space for creativity is a section of a more public arena -
the museum-type gallery; two apparently disparate areas married together into one work. They are, respectively, sites of creation and display, art and architecture, works in progress and the realisation of ideas, the map of the artist’s mind and the visible sign of artistic success. Visually and atmospherically distinct, they operate physically and literally at different levels.

Entering the work, the viewer is drawn through the studio area to step up into the gallery to view works reminiscent of paintings by both Caravaggio and Bacon. A wide museum bench limits movement within the space, encouraging the viewer to focus on photographic prints showing the starkly – chiaroscuro – lit figures in the late stages of uncontrollable addiction, bereft and unconcerned of all other comforts. The only essential is the ‘fix’.

Turning away from the gallery and back into the studio – essentially another constructed reality – through this mature work, Cooper subtly reminds us that the value of the allegory lies in its ability to represent both the literal and the symbolic. Here you only have to decide which is which.

©Andrew Cooper 2000 Produced by Beaulieu Associates

				Andrew Cooper (1956 - )
				Allegory of Abundance and Denial 2007 Installation, C Print, mixed media 14 ft x 11 ft x 9 ft.
				Cooper’s rich, multilayered installation draws on his established use of elements and motifs from architecture, sculpture and painting to discuss the nature of addiction. The title references a drawing by Botticelli and paintings by Breugal and Van Savoy, in which the cornucopia overflows, symbolising the allegorical figures of Peace, Luck and Concord. The Horn of Plenty has the power to fill itself with everything its owner might desire to bestow contentment or harmony. Cooper’s vision of the relationship between desire, providence and plenty is one in which the cornucopia spews out it’s contents, cradling the addict who can only feel whole and human in its morbid embrace; the downward spiral through craving and obsession reducing him to a solitary and jaundiced figure, seemingly hovering close to death.
				The installation incorporates the artist’s studio. Constructed within this personal space for creativity is a section of a more public arena - the museum-type gallery; two apparently disparate areas married together into one work. They are, respectively, sites of creation and display, art and architecture, works in progress and the realisation of ideas, the map of the artist’s mind and the visible sign of artistic success. Visually and atmospherically distinct, they operate physically and literally at different levels.
				Entering the work, the viewer is drawn through the studio area to step up into the gallery to view works reminiscent of paintings by both Caravaggio and Bacon. A wide museum bench limits movement within the space, encouraging the viewer to focus on photographic prints showing the starkly – chiaroscuro – lit figures in the late stages of uncontrollable addiction, bereft and unconcerned of all other comforts. The only essential is the ‘fix’.
				Turning away from the gallery and back into the studio – essentially another constructed reality – through this mature work, Cooper subtly reminds us that the value of the allegory lies in its ability to represent both the literal and the symbolic. Here you only have to decide which is which.