Robert Cooper
Background
Robert Cooper is an established ceramicist who has exhibited widely.
He is fascinated by the persistence of artefacts and ideas. He often uses found objects, such as pottery shards from the Thames foreshore, which are imbued with a previous life and function, as a starting point for his work.
He has, for many years, employed recycling as a mode of working. Different elements such as clays, oxides and glazes left over from teaching sessions, discontinued ceramic transfers, printed imagery from popular culture and even pieces of previous work are recombined to create new narratives with multiple meanings.
Born 1949.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2013 Officine Saffi Gallerie Milan Italy
1999 Anatol Orient Projects: Beyond the Containment of Things
1992 Crafts Council Shop at Victoria & Albert Museum, London
1990 Michaelson & Orient, London
1988 Michaelson & Orient, London
1986 Anatol Orient London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2015 “Leaving Home” Unravelling at CAA London
2015 London Craft Week at the CAA London
2015 Ceramic Art London at the Royal College of Art
2014 Ceramic Art London at the Royal College of Art
2014 “Chawan” Japanese Embassy London
2013 Ceramic Art London at the Royal College of Art
2012 'Maggs Beneath the Covers', Maggs Bros Antiquarian Booksellers, London (ACE funded project)
2012 Ceramic Art London at RCA
2011 British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke on Trent
2011 'Tea for Two', Officine Saffi, Milan
2011 ‘It’s What’s on the Outside that Matters?’ Newport Museum Art Gallery, Gwent, Wales
2011 International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, Wales
2011 Woodbury Studio Gallery, Woodbury, Greenway, Woodbury, Exeter, Devon
2011 City Lit Diploma Staff Exhibition, Rochester Art Gallery, Kent
2011 Ceramic Art London at RCA, London
2011 Press Night Exhibition, Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London
2010 Reclaim! The New School House Gallery, York
2010 Focus, CAA, London
2009 Scottish Gallery
2009 Barret Marsden Gallery, London
2009 Ceramic Art London at RCA
2009 Vanguard Court Studios
2009 City Lit Diploma course - 20 years at Barrett Marsden Gallery
2008 'Material Difference', Robert Cooper and Stella Harding, Rochester Art Gallery
2004 S.O.F.A, Chicago USA
2004 Contemporary Applied Arts, Artist in Focus, London
2004 CLAY Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2004 S.O.F.A, CLAY Gallery, New York,
USA 2003 S.O.F.A, British Craft Council, Chicago, USA
2003 Contemporary Applied Arts, ART into Education, London
2002 S.O.F.A British Craft Council Chicago USA
2001 World Ceramic Exposition, Korea
2000 British Council travelling Exhibition, Brazil Firing Imagination Ceramica Britanica
1998 Barbican Art Gallery, London Transatlantic Crossing
1996 Auckland Museum, New Zealand, Fletcher Challenge Exhibition
1995 Norwich Museum and Art Gallery (and tour), Tea pot mania
1995 Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, USA, Outrageous Pots
1993 Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham (and tour), High Table
1993 Galerie Fur Englische, Keramik, Sandhausen, Germany, Towards the Future
1992 Southbank Centre, London, Contemporary Ceramics
1990 Art London/90, International Contemporary Art Fair (with Michaelson and Orient)
1990 Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, From 80 to 90
1990 Edinburgh International Festival, International Ceramics Academy
1990 Chicago International, New Art Forms Exposition, (with Michaelson and Orient)
1990 British Ceramics in Norway, Hordaland, Kunstner, Sentrum, Bergen. Nordenfjeldske, Kunst Industrimuseum, Trondheim, Oslo.
1989 Art '89, London, (with Michaelson and Orient)
1989 Bath Contemporary Art Fair, (with Michaelson and Orient)
1989 Galerie Fur Englische, Keramik, Sandhausen, Germany, Change and Metaphor
1988 Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, USA, The New Spirit in Craft and Design 1988 Bath Contemporary Art Fair, (with Michaelson and Orient)
1988 Barbican Art Centre, Royal College of Art, 150th Anniversary
1988 Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, Royal College of Art, 150th Anniversary
1988 Liberty's London, Royal College of Art, Ceramic and Glass
1988 Manchester City Art Gallery, Out of Clay
1988 Artsite Gallery, Bath, Does it Pour?
1987 Crafts Council Gallery, London and tour, The New Spirit in Craft and Design
1987 Bath Contemporary Art Fair (with Anatol Orient)
1987 Anatol Orient London: Portobello Contemporary Art Festival
1987 Anatol Orient, London: The Box Show
1986 Artsite Gallery, Bath: The Box Show
1986 International Contemporary Art Fair, London: (with Anatol Orient)
1986 Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire
1986 Scripps College. California: Out of the Fire
1984 Great Linford Arts Centre, Milton Keynes: Built by Hand
1983 Midland Group (and tour): Fire and Smoke
1983 Scottish Crafts Council, Edinburgh: Raku
1980 Royal College of Art, London: Reliefs
1976 Bourne Hall. Ewell. Surrey
COMMISSIONS:
1997 Glasgow, Gallery of Modem Art: Fire Gallery Amenities (Painted Tiles.)
1996 Essex County Council, Braintree Public Library: "Flying Books" (Wall Friezes in Children's Section)
1995 Leicester, Leicester Royal Infirmary: (Ceramic Wall Piece)
1990 British Airways, Northolt: (Ceramic, metal Wall Piece)
1988 Lloyds Bank PLC, Counting House, London: (Ceramic Wall Pieces)
1987 Lloyds Bank PLC, Hayes Galleria, London: (Ceramic Wall Pieces)
1987 London Underground, Euston, Northern Line
1986 London Underground, Leicester Square, Northern, Piccadilly Lines
1984 Leeds Museums, Lotherton Hall: (Revolving Panel Screen)
Publications:
"Joined up Thinking", Article by Pam Johnson, (Ceramic Review) 2001
"Firing Imagination: Ceramica Britanica 7 catalogue, British Council 2000.
Article by Tessa Peters, (Neue Keramik) 1998
"Fletcher Challenge" catalogue, Aukland Museum, 1996
Profile, (Studio Pottery) Oct / Nov 1995
"High Table" Alison Britten, (Crafts) March / April 1994
Exhibition review, Gabi De-wald, (Crafts) Jan / Feb 1994
"Change and Metaphor" Angus Suttie, Kunsthandwerk, May / June 1989
"Fire and Smoke" Angus Suttie, (Crafts) No 65, 1983
British Studio Ceramics, by Paul Rice, The Crowood Press, 2002.
Contemporary British Studio Ceramics, Yale University Press, 2010
Anni Carlano, ‘Studio Ceramics: Mark and Diane Grainer Collection’, Charlotte, Mint Museum 2010
Louisa Taylor, ‘Ceramics: tools and techniques for the contemporary maker’, London, Jacqui Small 2011
‘A Playful Improviser’, article by David Whiting, Ceramic Review, Issue 249, May/June 2011
Workshop guide to Ceramics Duncan Hooson and Anthony Quinn 2012
Catalogue: 'Tea for Two', Officine Saffi, Milan, Italy. 2012
“Robert Cooper” La Ceramica magazine Italy 2013
Collections:
Gateshead - Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, UK
Crafts Council Collection, London
Mint Museum, USA
Kunst Industrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Pallant House, Chichester, Sussex, UK
Potters Seal Mark:
Robert rarely marks his work. When he does so, it is not uniform and might vary between a signature, stamp mark or carved initial etc.
