THOMAS MALCOLM COOK

Recently I have returned to Portland bridges as subjects for a new round of paintings. I keep coming back to the idea. I started working with bridges in my paintings in 2008 and have been focusing solely on the bridges across the Willamette river since my first bridge show in 2008.

It began as a departure from my natural affinity for figure painting. I felt like creating a painting with an angular, cold, metal, utilitarian object and giving it a personality and approachability would be a great challenge. I had no idea I would be painting them for almost two years. I have probably created over 50 paintings in that time and collectors of my work have responded to them like no other series I have created.

Last year I veered away from bridges to tackle another painting project that has been on my mind and scattered though my sketchbook for years, paintings that tell a story with the assistance of American Sign Language. I have created less than ten works so far, but I love where they going.

I showed these at Pie Footwear in October - December of 2009 and might have an opportunity to show some more at Fuel Cafe on Alberta here in Portland sometime this summer.

I am also starting a new series of paintings based on room interiors with lots of overlap, color and drawn elements. Hoping to show those in Seattle later this year.

I thought that with these exciting new mountains to climb I would put my bridge paintings on the shelf. Not so.

Today when I was driving south on I-5 I had a sort of epiphany concerning the "why" I keep coming back to my bridges. Looking out on the Burnside bridge through the rain spattered windshield, I thought to myself, "Boy that is one I haven't really given enough time to." The next thought I had was how much I love this city. Right after that I realized that my connection with these bridges, connects me to this city, as the bridges connect the east and west halves of the city. Sounds corny, but it couldn't be more true.

For living here most of my life, I really don't know this town that well. I know a town that doesn't exist anymore, the Portland of the mid-1990's. There are people that have moved here in the last year whom are more familiar with the pulse of the city. Granted, I am a bit of hermit. However, to lose touch with the wonder of one of the best cities I have ever visited is a crime. That is what I realized, what my paintings of these Portland icons mean to me and to the collectors of them. The works are not representing the metal and concrete things, it is capturing the ideas behind them. East meets west, earth meets sky, art meets collector and artist meets city.

I am inspired to paint...by the city, the bridges, the people and the art.