A.F. Cook - Piccolo Studio Gallery

painting

studio : Studio #34, 6 Vernon St., 3rd floor
Instagram : instagram.com/piccolocook77
email : acook77@msn.com

click an image to start the slide show

bio/info

I’ve been painting for most of my life, and have shown my work in the Boston area, Martha’s Vineyard, Philadelphia, and the tri-state area of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. My work is in collections across the country, with several pieces owned by collectors in Europe. My great-grandfather, American landscape painter John Fulton Folinsbee, is among my most significant influences (https://www.johnfolinsbee.org/).

My studio is a place where I create and show my own art and exhibit a few select works by other family artists. I am currently working on a series of family portraits and memento pictures, pastels and oil paintings of Martha’s Vineyard in the fall and winter, and Boston-area streetscapes. I am also creating a series of collage art cards based on a tradition I began several years ago of creating customized birthday cards for family.

Current family works at the studio include oil studies of the Wiscasset Bay area by my paternal grandfather Peter G. Cook, watercolors by my maternal grandfather Henry E. Scott, Jr., and oils of Martha’s Vineyard and Vermont by my aunt Marie Fischer Scott. The “Piccolo” name is a nod to my father, whose childhood nickname was Piccolo, and was the name of his temporary gallery on Huron Avenue in Cambridge in the 1980s.

In the family tradition, my primary subject has been landscape: including streetscapes of the Boston and Washington, D.C. metro areas (the Government of the District of Columbia purchased five of my D.C. urban scenes); the fog and autumn dunes of the Vineyard; and the cherry orchards, poppy fields, and medieval villages of Provence, France.

In the late 1990s, when I was living in Providence, I created a series of collage “cartoons” of Dante’s “Inferno” and one piece from his “Purgatorio,” as well as a series of small oils based on the dynamics between male and female personae in Greek mythology.

From 2003–2005, I ventured into more conceptual territory: namely, my “Freedom of Speech” series of iconic American buildings in the nation’s capital embedded with poetic commentary. The most notable pictures from this series were of the Supreme Court, White House, Capitol, and Jefferson Memorial (all in private collections). Another standalone piece commemorated 9/11, its surface made up of text obscured to some degree by mere light and simulated ash (private collection). This “text-pressionism” style expressed the tension between American idealism and the reality on the ground. It included two large works symbolic of American cultural identity: the American flag, titled “Allegiance” (still available), and the dollar bill (“Money Shot,” private collection).

I love to mentor children ages 6 and up who either overtly have the “art calling” or who may want to pursue art and may not have been given the credit for that interest (ask them!). In my experience, artmaking can help children acquire discipline and focus in a way that can enhance success in other areas and build confidence. I will periodically accept private students of any age, upon inquiry.