A warm welcome to PJ Crook MBE RWA FRSA
We are proud to announce that PJ Crook, artist of international repute and local heroine, will be joining the Paragon stable for Fresh: Art Fair in April this year, ahead of a solo exhibition in the Autumn. We are deeply honoured that PJ has chosen Paragon to represent her locally and we hope you enjoy her distinctive compositions as much as we do.
PJ lives and works near Cheltenham. Her paintings combine a highly distinctive style with extraordinary technical mastery. Rather than painting from photographs or direct observation, PJ prefers to draw from a combination of remembered observation and imagination, resulting in an intuitive and resolved composition.
Few contemporary artists are more accomplished at depicting perspective or depth of field, and the viewer has a sense of being invited into each painting, encouraged by the inclusion of the frame in the picture surface.
An innovator in the new English figuration, PJ Crook renders urban crowds, which while they consist of individuals absorbed in their own newspaper, cocktail or itinerary are nonetheless interchangeable archetypes. Or sometimes they are members of a family who are more interested in their own game, reading or mirror than in the person in front of them. There is always a poignant solitude surrounding these characters onto which the theatrical staging adds a colourful dash of humour.
The artist is a virtuoso in the mischievous art of beguiling our perceptions and expectations. She plays with the notions of painting: not only does she add almost undetectable carved reliefs on the flat canvas but she then extends them into open boxes - where all the surfaces, both inside and outside, are engaged in the narrative.
PJ confuses our sense of space; the spectator, deceived by the mirror effects, often looks at a scene actually taking place behind him. She plays games with questions of identity; twins are sometimes the same person, likewise opposing players can be reflections of each other. PJ is an artist of international repute, having dealers in Paris, Canada and New York as well as London. Her renown stretches as far as the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art in Japan and more locally at the Museum of Gloucester.
Her work also features in many major private and public collections including that of Imperial War Museum London; Ha’avatz, Israel; El Mundo, Madrid; La Ville de Paris; the Department for Transport, London; the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia; the President of Estonia; Conrad Black; Lord Bamford; the Marquess of Bath; Paul Allen; Jackie Collins; Peter Gabriel; Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox.
PJ has received numerous awards including an honorary doctorate of art in 2010 and MBE for services to art in 2011.
“Talking Heads” Tinted Gesso on Canvas with a Corrugated Wooden Support
