Brett Cook
From Provisions
Contents |
Questions for the Artist
Provisions Library: What early memories or experiences motivated your engagement with social change?
Brett Cook: Going to college and becoming an adult in the San Francisco bay area was fundamental to my engagement with social change. The legacy of progressivism in the Bay Area is famous, and the effect of its extraordinary history continues through numerous communities of art being made there. I moved to Berkeley during the blossoming of a vibrant graffiti community – the one that now has grown to worldwide recognition and influence. I was a participant in the alternative space sub-culture where accessible not-for-profit galleries were plentiful and supplemented by adventurous independent art spaces. And I lived in one of the four major centers for mural making in America, fortunately interacting with many of the legends of community art making. At an early time in my conceptual synthesis, I was defining art as a myriad of environmental, social, cultural, and political possibilities to make social change, and the bay area nurtured a deep commitment to the work of human value.
PL: Who are key influences in your life and why?
BC: My early collaborator Aaron Wade was a key influence in my life. We initially met in college as young Science Student-Athletes with great gifts for drawing and painting. We became brothers in the study of art history, art making, healing, and life. The early technical evolution of my painting, and the first deep reflections upon my true nature came during our time making non-permissional paintings across California and New York City. Though we broke off on separate paths in 1997, the inspiration of our work and lives together remains with me.
PL: What books, artworks, films, music, etc. have been essential to you?
BC: I believe in simultaneous greatness in different things in different ways, and therefore everything has the ability to inspire. I see my influences coming from countless sources with infinite effects. I aspire for my work - in its materials, concepts, techniques, display, and actions – to show that diversity and unessential influence that would be incomplete in any attempt to list. Qualification aside, and with the theme of the exhibition at Nathan Cummings in mind, I share two resources that continue to follow me in my work and life. Paulo Fiere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed has been an important text for me. Originally introduced to Fiere’s work while studying education at Berkeley, it continues to affect me, expanding beyond teaching pedagogy strategies to all parts of my social, political, psychological and spiritual understanding - where dialogue is always an aspect. For a Future to be Possible by Thich Nhat Hanh as been another important illumination in my life, helping me to become a more loving person in the world. As Thich Nhat Hanh writes in the book’s introduction, “To love is to understand, protect, and bring well being to the object of our love.” This book has been crucial in expanding the scope of my love, through the practice of peace that is my life and my work.
PL: What are you working on now?
BC: The Models of Accountability/Divinity series represents one current facet of my creative practice, which has been built on an ongoing study of avatars for social change. By studying the lives of great people and magically layering abstractions of pigment into skillfully crafted portraits I have felt myself nurture the seeds of accountability and divinity within me. By making mirrored shrines that share inspirational words and lives, viewers see the divinity in themselves as well. The mirror shows through each portrait of a human being so we can recognize ourselves within, rather than apart from, advocates of human value. The assortment of written words and published text accessible on mirrored shelves at the base of each piece are resources I share from my ongoing research to be a better person and relieve suffering in the world.
PL: Terms like "artist" and "activist" are subjective terms. Where do you see the overlap, if any? Do you draw strict separations between the two, or do you see them as inseparable?
BC: The study and practice of being a creative person has helped me to look deeply at the effects of my actions on myself and on other human beings, and realize our interconnectedness. I carried the perception for a long time that an artist creates culture whether they try to or not, and an activist works for social change in creative ways whether they want to or not. While the spectrum of creativity and social change between artist and activist may vary, I never thought they were completely separate. Over time I have come to believe that we are all cultural producers that craft society regardless of the professional or personal terms by which we are referred. We are all connected in a “Network of Mutuality” with our actions effecting and creating the reality that we live in. “Artist” and “activist” may be titles that can add direction in our intention with their naming, but we all represent inseparable identities as participants in this interconnected world.
About the Artist
"Despite the ever-diminishing number of artists making art in the spirit of political activism, 30-something Brett Cook-Dizney remains committed to creating work 'about giving marginalized people a voice,' as he's quoted in the press release for his latest exhibition. This African-American artist has done site-specific, not-for-profit and sometimes 'non-permissional' projects in the ghettos of South Central L.A. and Harlem, asking his subjects (the inhabitants of these neighborhoods) to take a literal hand in representing themselves publicly. For his latest show, 'REVOLUTION,' Cook-Dizney presented one of paintings and another of drawings, all portraying renowned individuals who have done radical work in support of humanity."
–from "Brett Cook-Dizney at P.P.O.W.", Sarah Valdez, Art In America, December 2003.
Paintings from the series, Revolution
More on Public & Community Art
Public Art's Cultural Evolution Public art is something that was easily defined as recently as the 1960s — what I refer to as the four M's: Murals, Monuments, Memorials and Mimes. Today it's almost anything and everything artists can think up, a broad spectrum of activities encompassing almost every aspect of our lives.
by Jack Becker, from the Community Arts Network Reading Room
SPARC, the Social and Public Art Resource Center produces, preserves and conducts educational programs about community based public art works in Los Angeles.
More Images from Brett Cook
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| Thich Nat Hahn | Cesar Chavez | Mohandas Ghandi |
