KEVIN COOLEY
MEDIA
Kevin Cooley, Skyward, 2012, 9 min 45 sec HD Video
Kevin Cooley Cockpit Footage for Skyward, 2012
BIOGRAPHY
Kevin Cooley’s photography and videos capture the sublime intersection of man and nature. In his video installations, land or sky slowly unfurls before the viewer creating a sense of anticipation, building a quiet narrative; the subject itself is our unacknowledged presence in the landscape. In the gallery, Cooley manipulates the environment to physically affect the viewer, whether building a stack of monitors to imitate a towering bonfire or projecting a tour of the Los Angeles sky on the ceiling. As critic Emily Ng noted, “Cooley coerces both a physical and metaphysical viewing from the audience, preparing a psychological backdrop for the video, then slowly pulling that backdrop away, creating a fully visceral experience.”
With “Remote Nation,” Cooley synched 100 analog televisions in a new but vacant building in New York to his father’s TV in Colorado, visualizing his take on the inherent duality brought about by technology. Cooley explains, "I thought about it after watching my parents watch the same television program in different rooms. Technology can connect you with someone across the world, but when you go out with your friends, you're still sitting around the table on phones. It tends to isolate us, as well as it connects us."
With an MFA in Photography from the School of the Visual Arts in New York, Kevin Cooley has exhibited his work extensively across the world including exhibitions at White Columns, Massimo Audiello, Kopeikin Gallery and Young Projects in L.A. He is also included in a number of noteworthy private and public collections including the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum and Harvard Business School’s Schwartz Art Collection. Cooley has held several artist-in-residency positions internationally as well, including the Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency Program, the Grand Canyon National Park, Herhusid Artist Residency in Iceland, and Cite Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris. Kevin Cooley lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
EXHIBITIONS
SELECT PRESS
...might be good, Issue #191, Tickets, Please, Ng, Emily, "Kevin Cooley: Skyward," June 2012
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Art Ltd, Dambort, Shana Nys, "Kevin Cooley: 'Take Refuge' at Kopeikin Gallery, 'Suspension' at Young Projects," March 2012
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LA Times, Ollman, Lead, "Art Review: 'Suspension' video by Reynold Reynolds, Kevin Cooley," March 2012
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The Wall Street Journal, "TV With Parental Guidance Required," September 2011
Wired, "Remote Nation Turns High Line Walkers Into Voyeurs," August 2011
New York: A Photographer's City, Rizzoli Press, 2011
Bright Magazine, "At Light's Edge," March 2009
Harper's Magazine, "Readings," December 2008
Culture & Travel, "On Top of the World," February/March 2007
Marie Claire (Italy), "Visioni Molto Cool(ey)," February 2007
Metropolis Books, "Looking at Los Angeles," 2005
LA Weekly, "The Ecstasy and The Agony," June 2005
LA Times, "An Illustrative Light," June 2005
New York Art World, "Drama, Romance, Loneliness," February 2005