steve cooley bio
Testimonials
Steve’s artwork is like a looking glass where individual viewers see what they want to see in his work. What is fascinating about this inkblot kind of process is that viewers’ interpretations of the artwork can open doorways to their unconscious and reveal something new to them. Perhaps Steve’s work is a manifestation of both collective and personal unconscious material that his psyche has interpreted. Perhaps someday he’ll unravel the mystery and share with us what he sees in his recurring shapes and curious compositions. Until then, there is a plethora of information to learn about ourselves as we view this mind-opening artwork. – RKC
Let’s get this part out of the way first:
- Nothing bugs the crap out of me more than fine art education snobs. Yuck. Why are people who are self-motivated any less legitimate artists than people with a degree? It’s ridiculous. I live this stuff. I toil in the processes. I think about it all the time. If having a degree makes me less legitimate to you, you’re not allowed to look at my work. How’s that? I don’t need you. Go away. If you want to debate me on this, Drop me an email!
- don’t ask me “where did you go to school” or “who did you study with?” … I study with my brain. I study with my bandsaw, my table saw, my paintbrush, my wife, and my creativity. I study at Home Depot. I study at Michael’s crafts store. I study at the fabric store. I study at http://www.mcmaster.com, I study at work, I study at the dinner table. I study in bed, I study in the shower. I’m always trying to solve creative problems. Always thinking about how I could repurpose commonly available materials for some other use.
- I did study in schools for many years avoiding academics and taking a lot of art classes, and still take classes when my time permits. To my instructors, I’m extraordinarily thankful… no doubt you’ve had a tremendous effect on me, for which I’m grateful. I think I’m still trying to solve composition problems that were given to me by my color and design teacher, Jack Noyes. I got my critical eye from my ceramics and sculpture teacher Richard Flores. I got training for a refined drawing hand from Gaye Lynne La Guire. Oh fine, go look for yourself. I’ve taken a ton of other art classes at various other community colleges since I moved to the bay area.
- I’m of the opinion that if you stop learning, you’re starting to stagnate.
Ok, so if you’re still with me
- I was born in England and moved to the states when I was a baby.
- I’ve spent almost my entire life in California. From about 23 years in Socal, and from then on in Norcal
- I’ve spent about 13 years in the graphics and marketing fields (as of 2005)
- as stated above, I’m a lifelong learner
- I’m married to a wonderful woman who is also an artist
My central focus of media has switched around over the past 14 years or so, but, it’s always been a pursuit of a unique quality while still acknowledging and paying homage to my significant influences: Braque, Kandinsky, Picasso.
I’m a student of process
I think I get this from my mom. She’s also an artist. We suspect my dad to be a visual artist, but he’s pursuing other creative outlets currently. My mom loves learning how things are done. She loves learning how they’re done correctly. I definitely have that streak in me, but I do try to moderate that a bit. What interests me is the results you get from the fringe of a process: the effect from a process gone slightly askew. That’s where the learning comes in. If you never make a mistake, you never get to learn anything new.
My work is a combination of scientific control and a struggle against the nature of the need for control. A conflict between precision and fluidity. Sometimes one force is stronger than the other, but, they are never mutually exclusive in my work.
I think an education in world religions at an early age opened my eyes up a bit to those religions who tend to be accepting of the world around them. The human need to make a mark is driven by a desire just one step above food, shelter and warmth. Once the cave dwellers had a meal and a fire, off they go scribbling on the walls.
What drives me
My work is more about you telling me what you see than me telling you. My work is intentionally a mirror to your psyche, and not a representation of something from mine. I feel more like a channel of visuals than having a specific message for you to “get”. What drives me is hearing what the viewer sees. I love to hear what the viewer sees when they look at my work.
how it’s done
I’m a student of composition. I do a lot of sketches before I take to the band saw and paint brush. The new work is largely inspired by these sketches I do, and then something better usually happens when I start laying out the composition on the boards. I usually find that when I’m “trying” to achieve a specific layout, it falls down for me somewhere, so, I try to let the composition develop as it’s coming online to the board when I’m drawing it out.
Much of the rest of the process up until painting is academic. The bandsaw is a critical tool for me, along with a tablesaw, hand drill, and countersinking bit. Once all the pieces of a composition are cut, I often will clean up the cut edges on a sander. Next is figuring out the height offsets. I achieve this by stacking up spacers that I cut ahead of time, then gluing up the stacks. Usually what I’ll do next is glue all the offsets to the backer board and gesso the backer board. While this is drying, I can gesso up all the cut composition top pieces. Usually the next day I can predrill all the backer board offsets for hardware, flip the backer board and countersink all the holes and install the hardware.
Now the pieces are ready to paint… this is the tricky part. This is the part where I spend time agonizing over the color palette. Once it’s selected, I can start laying down color layers, building up color in the backer board and the top pieces. This usually takes a week or more. I’ve experimented with various masking techniques and paint application methods… I’m still learning a lot with what I like and what I think works well. It ends up being quite a lot of steps, but in the end I think it’s definitely worth it.