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His murals are to be seen far and wide,
from Windsor Castle to a top security prison in Australia.
Gary Wayne Cook, born in the UK in 1958,
arrived in Eivissa at the end of the 1980s with a specific
commissioned work to do.
It was a mural painting in Pike's Hotel,
one of the best, famous and most pretty rural hotels on the
Island, near Sant Antoni de Portmany (Freddy Mercury, Julio
Iglesias, Tony Curtis and Monserrat Caballé are some
of the guests that made this small hotel known all over the
world).
He came by boat from Mallorca, where he
was living for a while after travelling and working in many
different countries; his murals grace the UK, Holland, Australia,
Israel and Spain among other countries.
As Gary was living in Mallorca, he was not
so impressed by the light or our sea. In fact, when I asked
him what was the first impression the Island made on him,
he confessed that what he remembered most was the fear he
felt with the chaotic traffic when he first came on that summer
afternoon driving a scooter, from Eivissa Town to Sant Antoni.
It was not until a few weeks later when
one of Tony Pike's sons started showing him the little villages
of the interior and the splendid beaches that Gary started
slowly to discover the beauty of Eivissa. Since then, apart
from some short trips, he has never left the Island again.
Gary is still recovering from a very serious
accident he suffered just over two years ago. He lives with
his lovely German wife, Brigitte, in a three-hundred-year-old
"casa payesa", a nicely renovated "finca"
in the interior of the island where they have to produce their
own electric power and collect rainwater, a real Eden where
the asphalt roads, electricity and telephone wires haven't
yet reached.
As Gary is also a man of not too many words,
instead of answering my questions he preferred to write his
replies to me, and - as his English writing is better then
mine - I have just copied it all, literally (sic) as it was,
hoping that you wouldn't have to read the questions to understand
his answers.
"I became a mural painter when I dropped
out of college where I was studying business, so I have no
formal "art education"...In fact, my art "A"
level was the only exam which I failed at school, so the idea
of going to an art school didn't enter my mind... I still
remember the painting, which I did in the exam, they were
quite good, in fact, I could have sold them subsequently now
that I think about it!
I always say... "Art School"?
You must be joking! You don't need any education to do what
I do!
I use my "art" firstly to make
a living, and secondly to express personal ideas which I may
have.
My favourite style of painting is probably
the "old master style" or more accurately the "Renaissance"
style.
But style is just style! For me it's the
idea expressed in a painting that counts, not how it's painted!
I am now working on sculptures, pieces that
I compose from branches of trees that grow here in Ibiza,
mainly around the house where I live.
These sculptural pieces are of course "home
grown", so to speak, and I intend to "offer"
them partly as a "homage" to the island. I hope
in some small way to make my contribution to the culture of
the island.
I have a solo exhibition of this work scheduled
for July 2002, in the "Esglesia de l'Hospitalet in Dalt
Vila, Eivissa, with the "Museu d'Art Contemporani d'Eivissa",
which should run through to the end of August 2002".
A Selection of Exhibitions
1982 Solo - Cambridge Central Library
1985 Solo - Watford Central Library
Collective - Camden Arts Centre, London
NW 3
1988 Joint, with Patrick Old, Gallery
202, London W 11
1990 Solo - The Studio, London SW
3
Solo - Galería del Artista, Eivissa
Collective - Galería "Es Mulí",
Eivissa
1991 Solo - Frends, London WC 2
1992 Collective - Pyramid Art Gallery,
Ku, Eivissa
Solo - The Gallery, London W 1
1995 Solo - Frends, London WC 2
Joint, with Lula Martins, Galería
Nova, Eivissa
Collective - Libro Azul, Eivissa
Collective - Galería Van der Voort,
Eivissa
1996 Collective - Museu d'Art Contemporani,
d'Eivissa
1997 Collective - Smart Depot, London
NW 1
1999 Solo - Libro Azul, Eivissa
2000 Collective - Libro Azul, Eivissa
Joint, with Simone Schander, Consell Insular,
Feria d'Art
2001 Collective - Museu d'Art Contemporani
d'Eivissa
Solo - Villa Mercedes, Sant Antoni, Eivissa
Exhibitions Already booked for this Year
2002 Solo - Scheduled for July, l'Eglesia
de l'Hospitalet, (MAC) Museu d'Art Contemporani d'Eivissa
Solo - Bar Gallería Can Tixedó,
Sant Antoni, Eivissa
Collective - "Los Artistas de los
años sesenta" (MAC) Eivissa
A Selection of Commissioned Works
1983 Bank Leumi, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mural of 1,000 square metres on the exterior of the Dolphinarium
1984 Gout of Western Australia. Mural
of 100 square metres in Perth maximum security prison with
the participation of some of the inmates
1988 MTV Amsterdam. Mural of 500
square metres Exterior of the Culture Centre "The Milky
Way"
1995 "Museu d'Art Contemporani"
(MAC), Eivissa. Mural of 100 square metres in Eivissa penitentiary,
with the participation of some of the inmates
1996 "G L C", London.
Mural of 500 square metres of an "Intercity 125 Train",
painted on both sides of the bridge, in Shepherd Bush
Green
1997 Renovation of St. George's Hall,
Windsor Castle (after the fire). The British Coat of Arms
painted on a 6 square metre canvas
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Pictures of His Work Courtesy of Gary
Cook
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The home of Gary Cook
Picture © Gary Hardy (February 2002)
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Gary Cook with two pieces of his new
work
Pictures © Gary Hardy (February 2002)
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José P Ribas
josepribas@liveibiza.com
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