“Life and art go on and we should embrace new ways of doing things as the human condition and our ever changing situation require” – P J Crook, MBE.

P.J Crook’s world is crowded with people, creatures and things that together live in a world of benevolent otherness. Refusing to be cut off by their frames, the pictures crawl out into three dimensionality. A world of both muted tints and startlingly vivid colours, the paint adheres to and settles in on the canvas rather than just sitting upon it. But the white ground is never entirely subdued, and it brings brilliance and energy to the paintings. It is the artist’s distinctive style, combined with her technical artistry that result in meticulously detailed and dramatic compositions such as this one. Each one is beguiling, creating a sense of wonderment and intrigue for the observer.

Provenance

Exhibited with Portal Gallery London
Private collection, United States

Biography

P. J. Crook, as she is professionally known, was born in Cheltenham in 1945, where she still lives and works. PJ’s work is held in some of the world’s most prominent public and private collections and is considered in the highest echelons of British contemporary art. She is represented by the Panter & Hall gallery on Pall Mall in London and Galerie Alain Blondel in Paris.

From a studio opposite her house, she creates compositions on a monumental scale — paintings can measure 2 × 4.5 metres. She also paints small pictures, some no larger than 10cm square. She works in tinted gesso, acrylic and in oil on canvas, or on found materials such as a corrugated wood support. On paintings such as this one, the artist has chosen to continue the painting over the frame, playing with the concept of picture plane. Crook’s paintings are often characterised by a dark crowded atmosphere; she fills the canvas with people, using a muddy palette. Some of these paintings have been used as covers for King Crimson’s recent albums since 1997, as well as various ProjeKcts covers, such as 2011’s ‘A Scarcity of Miracles’.

Crook is a Patron of the National Star College Cheltenham; a Patron of Linc; a Trustee and director of ACS (the Artists’ Collecting Society); Trustee of the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail Trust; Patron of Cheltenham Open Studios; a Gloucestershire Ambassador; President of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum; member of the Royal West of England Academy; Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club and the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire. PJ Crook has an honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Gloucestershire and is an honorary vice President of Gloucestershire College. Crook was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to art.

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