January 2014
Artist’s Statement
Chip Cooper: An Architectural Soliloquy, a photographic series in black-and-white, came from a conversation of mutual discovery between the artist and Arts Company Gallery. From commercial projects, some from book projects, and some from his growing interest in fine art photography, he is transitioning more and more into the artistic realm of exploring the kinds of images he wants to pursue photographically: in particular, images from a commercial project he had done years earlier documenting a distinctive community, designed by architects on the Florida coast – specifically, a place called Alys. Like most current photographers, he had long since given up developing his work in a chemical darkroom and has proceeded to work out his ideas with techniques available only through computers. The result is a series of contemporary architectural meditations focused on the many planes of basic architectural shapes that he reveals in shades of black and white.
Biography
Chip Cooper, was former Director of Photography for the University of Alabama for 33 years and is now Artist in Residence in the Honors College. He received his BA from the University in 1972 followed by post-grad work in photography. While working for the university he was published in Horizon Magazine, Antique Monthly, Antiques & Fine Arts Magazine, Newsweek, Village Voice, USA Today, Modern Maturity, Northeast Orient Magazine, Alabama Heritage, Sophisticated Traveler – The New York Times, Mercedes International, Veranda, and Southern Accents.
Cooper’s photography books include: Hunting the Southern Tradition (Taylor Publishing – Dallas, Texas), Alabama Memories (WH Smith-New York City), Silent in the Land & Common Threads (CKM Press- Tuscaloosa, Alabama), Crimson – The University of Alabama (Booksmith Group Nashville, Tennessee), Charlie Lucas – The Tin Man (University of Alabama Press- Tuscaloosa, Alabama), and Habana Vieja, Old Havana (University of Alabama Press). Cooper won an award of excellence for his book Silent in the Land from Communication Arts Magazine and is a past recipient of an Artist Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He has shown his work nationally and internationally and his work is in many museums, private and corporate collections.
Recently, South by Southeast Photomagazine featured Cooper’s work in their March/April, July/August, and September/October 2013 magazines.
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, says about Cooper “you are a very great American photographer plus Georgia O’ Keefe rolled into one. O’Keefe because you have her eye. You paint with film.”
Cooper is currently working with Cuban Photographer, Julio Larramendi on a new book project, The Cuban Peasant due out 2015.
