NEW YORK.- Mary Ryan Gallery is pleased to present Christopher Cook: New Graphites, Works on Aluminum and Paper, a new body of work from the innovative British artist. Since abandoning color in 1997, Cook has worked with a mixture of graphite, oil, and resin to develop his signature ‘graphites’. His technique involves combining graphite powder with resin, oil, and solvents and applying it to coated paper or wall mounted aluminum using brushes, his fingers, rags, and other implements. Cook welcomes uncertainty in his graphites, tilting the work surface and letting gravity dictate the movement of the liquid mixture. Through this continual negotiation of the medium, his enchanting imagery begins to emerge. The delicate balance between predetermined ideas and unpredictable effects is integral to the artist’s image-making process, yielding works which combine a painterly surface with a photographic aesthetic.

This exhibition introduces waterfalls as subject matter, which have fascinated Cook since seeing a Hokusai exhibition in Tokyo. For Cook, the waterfall is a symbol of continual becoming, of potential, and of constant motion. Blade Fall is a powerful image, with water that pours from the top of the aluminum in jagged sheets, and culminates in a spray of whitewater that seems to cushion the falling blades. It is in a sense a man-made waterfall that looks at once sharp and dangerous, while retaining the dynamism and flow of water.

Also on view are Cook’s most recent renditions of theater interiors, which focus almost exclusively on stage curtains. The curtains and waterfalls are both depicted close-up, filling the picture plane, and are framed with fragments of foliage or set decoration. Both the curtains and the waterfalls rely on gravity to pull the liquid medium downward, creating a sense of movement while retaining a sense of eerie stillness. While the subjects of his work are recognizable, the viewer is constantly made to look and think again, as what seemed obvious a moment ago becomes suddenly mysterious.

One new, expansive theater interior is included in this exhibition. Godlike is Cook’s interpretation of the interior of La Scala in Milan from the high above, looking down into the majestic opera house. Cook’s quick brushwork and precise finger-smudges create the ornate Baroque decoration inside. The image, rendered in a range of glimmering silvery grays, is slightly blurred and obscured, evoking a sense of memory and distance. Homing/Journey, a 26 minute DVD will be on view in Gallery 3. The video follows the gaze of a passenger aboard a train from Exeter to London.