Gary Cook graduated from Bournemouth University 1987 and made a fellow in 1999. He is an environmental painter creating watercolour and ink montages: a fusion of traditional painting with subtle messages about sustainability hidden within the works. His style is influenced by his background in the newspaper industry when he was an associate editor and senior artist for The Sunday Times for 26 years, winning many international awards.
"…Working for a newspaper, I often produced diagrams highlighting environmental problems. In the last decade as a painter, including an environmental message in each piece has been very important to me. For example, oak trees, which are under threat, provide the habitat for around 2,200 different species from bats to beetles and lichens to mammals. The names of some of these species are discreetly included in my paintings. I always feel a deep connection and a sense of wellbeing when under the tree canopy. Being able to combine this joy with painting is such a privilege…"
Gary has shown with the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), and has been elected a member. The Arborealists and at the RWA in Bristol. He is The Ecologist's Arts Editor and an Associate member of the Society of Graphic Fine Arts..
In addition to Gary's election to the RI, in July this year he was awarded "Best in Show" at the Society of Graphic Fine Art Centenary Exhibition, held at the Mall Galleries.
