Capturing the Victorian coastline.
For Victorian artist Warren Cooke, inspiration comes intrinsically from the world around him. Living bayside on the Mornington Peninsula, Cooke uses his art as a “visual journal”, a vivid documentation of life by the coast, capturing fleeting moments and finding beauty in the everyday. A celebrated printmaker, Cooke uses his reduction woodcut technique to capture movement and atmosphere, creating scenes that are instantly immersive.
Cooke’s interest in printmaking stems from his teenage years, where in secondary school he discovered “the gift of the press”, the surprise element of incidental marks becoming transformed in the printing process. Over the years, Cooke’s practice developed. Incorporating re-purposed timber from second-hand furniture, the artist has adopted a reduction woodcut process, a laborious printing process which encourages the gradual building of images through one single block.
…”I enjoy sourcing discarded old timbers from second-hand furniture items and knocking them apart as a starting point, rejoining the timber bits when making the blocks. The timbers I use are inherently marked, dented or warped and have knots which are beautiful to me.“
In Cooke’s works, the effects of this process become apparent, with imprinted wood-grains creating wonderfully textured surfaces, grounding the work of art in environment and in technique. We see this in “Land and Sea #50’, where the deep blue of the vast ocean gives way to the white of the paper underneath, creating the distinct impression of a misty sea spray, rising up off the water.
Central to all of Cooke’s works is the vast ocean - this ever-changing body of water that seems in perpetual motion. Speaking on his artistic inspiration, Cooke explains: “my fascination with the ocean comes from one theory that this is where we derived from … the ocean as our origin”. Within his works, Cooke’s ocean is powerfully represented - in ‘Land and Sea #59’, the scene is engulfed by a dark swirling mass of water, the horizon only a distant thought.
… “The ocean is also dynamic, harsh, lethal and beautiful. It connects and separates like a bridge and a moat. Abundant with life, there is a mystery to what details are below the surface.”
Cooke’s works intimately reflect his relationship with his local area, composing an impression of an ocean that is powerful, ever-changing and yet, enduringly beautiful. In vast, sweeping vistas and sun-touched waves, his ocean works carry a life-affirming mystery - a sense of renewal, depth, and quiet strength. These works invite a daily connection to the calming rhythm and timeless presence of the sea, offering a moment of reflection and escape within the home.
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