RETROSPECTIVE RESTART SAND BEACHES TO STEEL BEAMS
by RODNEY COOK

AUGUST 24-SEPTEMBER 26, 2009
STEVENSON UNIVERSITY GALLERY

Retrospective Restart - Sand Beaches to Steel Beams offers a glimpse into the prodigious and prolific art work Rodney Cook has created for more than thirty five years together with new work and new directions. As he considered the possibilities for this exhibition Rod pondered just ?How many stories can be told?? Cook says he?s had to ?reinvent the wheel so many times?he has a huge smorgasbord of subjects and ideas.? Cook is indeed a storyteller who takes us on quite a ride. From early paintings and murals devoted to urban themes and Baltimore life, to playful images of the beach, the land and the good life to industrial detritus turned beautiful refuse Cook?s work is steeped in art history and dedicated to serious painting technique. His work is filled with humor and visual puns and often outrageous juxtaposition. He takes moments in time and familiar icons and they become broad in scope yet remain personal. While he invokes artists like William Merritt Chase, Edward Hopper and the Ashcan school the result is entertaining and accessible. There is coherence and cohesion, but a skewed extension of reality in his composition and design. Rod?s reality is rife with memory, fun and play. He mines everything in life and makes it his own. With mastery of the medium and tireless energy and optimism Rodney Cook makes the improbable possible. Diane DiSalvo August 2009

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Retrospective Restart Sand Beaches to Steel Beams, Stevenson University, 2009
The Back Porch, Rehoboth, Delaware, 2007, 2008, 2009
The Blue Moon, Rehoboth, Delaware, 1994, 1997-2006
Gordon Center for the Performing Arts, Owings Mills, Maryland, 1999
Hoffberger Gallery, BHC, Baltimore, Maryland, 1983, 1998
Everyman Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland, 1998
Sheppard Art Gallery, Ellicott City, Maryland, 1996
The Liriodendron Museum Gallery, Liriodendron Foundation, Bel Air, Maryland, 1995
Gallery 30, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1993
Pablo?s, Baltimore, Maryland, 1992, 1993
Space Gallery, Rehoboth, Delaware, 1992
The Luther Room, Ascension Lutheran Church, Towson, Maryland, 1992
University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, 1991
Columbia Arts Center, Columbia, Maryland, 1990
Morris Mechanic Theater, Baltimore, Maryland, 1986
Montpelier Cultural Arts Center, Laurel, Maryland, 1984
The Center Club, Baltimore, Maryland, 1983
The Tomlinson Collection, Baltimore, Maryland, 1983
Equerry Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1982

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

20 x 20 Art 17, Washington D.C., curator Sondra Arkin, 2008
The Blue Moon, Rehoboth, Delaware, 2007, 2008
Baltimore Watercolor Society Mid-Atlantic Regional, 1996, 1993, 2006, 2007
Gallery Tango, Rehoboth, Delaware, 2005, 2007
The Heart of the Community, Camp Rehoboth, Delaware, 2002-2007
Best of the Beach, Beebe Medical Foundation, Lewes, Delaware, 2002-2007
The Razor?s Edge: An Impossible Landscape, Hodgson Art Gallery, Frederick Community
College, Frederick, Maryland, curator Cynthia Baush, 1998
Mid Atlantic Regional, Maryland Art League, jurors Leslie Portney, Turner Aud, 1998
Outta Sight School 33, Art Center Baltimore, Maryland, curator Susan Lowe, 1997
Faculty Exhibition, Jewish Community Center, Baltimore, Maryland, 1990-1999
Art on Paper 1996, MFA Gallery, Annapolis, Maryland, juror Joann Moser, 1996
Art MD 95, Center for the Arts, Ellicott City, Maryland, 1995
MICA Faculty Exhibition, Ward Center for the Arts, St. Paul?s School, Baltimore, Maryland, 1995
15 x 15 Alumni Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, 1994
Faculty Exhibition MICA, Baltimore, Maryland, 1980-1990, 1991-1994
Winter 92, Maryland Communications Center, Maryland State Arts Council, 1992
New Face: 25 Portraits of Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, DCAC, Washington D.C., 1991
Painting 90, Arlington Art Center, Arlington, VA, juror Charlotta Kotik, 1990

ABOUT
Rodney Cook is currently an Adjunct Professor in Art at Stevenson University and the
Maryland Institute College of Art. He holds degrees from Trinity College and the
Maryland Institute College of Art.