Robert Cooper
Actaeon
21 - 28th May 2021
The Bomb Factory Art Foundation
The Bomb Factory presents ‘Actaeon’, a debut solo exhibition by resident artist Robert Cooper.
After receiving online abuse, Cooper resonated with Actaeon’s story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and started to use drawing to rebuild his confidence in making.
The show reenacts the myth of Actaeon who startles the goddess Diana and her nymphs and a chaotic frenzy ensues. The drawings are made with Sharpies, highlighters and colour pencils to create vivid, energised and frantic scenarios of rabbits and deer celebrating change and vitality. The recurring eyeball motif representing the flurry of Diana’s nymphs who were startled and scattered by Actaeon. It symbolises the witnessing of ongoing tragic events that have occurred during the past year from our positions of enclosure.
The show marks the return of exhibitions at The Bomb Factory, and, given the animated nature and timing of the work, celebrates a ‘bursting’ out of lockdown.
Park, 2021
Pencil, pen, paint pen, jesmonite, pigment, Vaseline, highlighter, gems, glue on paper
2.5 x 1.75 m
Snakeskin, 2021, wet clay, acrylic
104 x 69 x 30 cm
Breed, 2021
Pencil, pen, highlighter
59 x 84 cm
Slaw, 2021
Pencil, pen, highlighter on paper
59 x 84 cm
Chocolate Bunny, 2021
Wet clay, gems, bucket, scales
25 x 26 x 35 cm
