Barrie Cooke (Born 1931, Cheshire, UK) moved to the US as a teenager and studied Art History at Harvard University. He settled in Ireland in 1954 and has been based there ever since, although his extensive travels to such places as Lapland and Borneo are fundamental to his practice. Many of Cooke's richly expressionist, semi-abstract paintings concentrate on aspects of the natural world - death, change and decay. These works reflect his enduring interest in pollution, deforestation and the exploitation of resources and global warming as well as his enduring love of fishing and the Irish landscape.
Major retrospectives ofhis work have been held at Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (1986), Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (1992), LAC, Perpignan (1995), and RHA, Dublin (2003), Irish Museum of Modern Art Dublin (2011, in celebration of his 80th birthday).
Major retrospectives ofhis work have been held at Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (1986), Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (1992), LAC, Perpignan (1995), and RHA, Dublin (2003), Irish Museum of Modern Art Dublin (2011, in celebration of his 80th birthday).
