page_title: Adam Cooley
section_title: Artwork
hierarchical_section_title: Adam Cooley / Artwork
caption_attribution_description: English: title: The Suckling Pig medium: oil/ acrylic on linen canvas dimensions: 41 cm x 66 cm
context_page_description: Adam Cooley is an American artist whose works include painting, sculpture, performance art, fashion design, lithography, interior design and film. He currently lives between Osaka, Japan and New York.
context_section_description: Cooley began exhibiting works – mostly paintings – along with performance art pieces while living in New York. He regularly exhibited works after settling in Asia during the early 1990s.
  The artist has created and executed various performance art pieces throughout his career, which have rarely been documented. One exception is a piece titled "Bonsai (2003)" which was documented in a book and corresponding documentary broadcast on public television in fall 2005. Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Karin Muller. 
  Cooley has created in multiple art forms including performance art, interior design, fashion design, painting, sculpture, lithography, printmaking and film. In 2001, selected works – including the painting "Cooking Dinner for the Little Lady" – were exhibited in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. The museum has also procured two of his works: "Cockadoodle Surprise" and "The Black Beauty" for their permanent collection. He was the first living foreign artist to have a solo exhibition in the Daimaru and Hankyu Department stores.
  In 1998, an exhibit of over 70 works, entitled "Anella", was held at the Maronie Art gallery in Kyoto, Japan. The concept was to exhibit artworks in a barrier free environment in order to broaden the sensual appreciation of art. The works themselves were all highly textured and tactile. They were placed in low positions, allowing spectators to enjoy through touch as well as visual sensation. He approached the Nippon Lighthouse Organization (organization for the blind and visually handicapped) who were excited by the idea and helped to publicize his exhibition. This exhibit allowed visually-impaired spectators to experience otherwise traditional artworks through the sense of touch. The exhibit consequently became highly publicized, with all of the major newspapers – including The Mainichi Newspaper, Asahi Newspaper and The Daily Yomiuri – covering the show.
  His works sometimes demonstrate a playful eclecticism, with respect to theme and technique, as shown by an exhibit held in Kyoto in 1999. The exhibit featured amulets constructed of wood and gilded gold-leaf with glass. The "hand-crafted wooden charms" suggested a contrast with modern consumerism and the traditional spirituality that is associated with Japanese animism and the Shinto religion. The small hand-sized amulets were entitled "Kamisamagotchi", as a play on the Japanese word for God: "Kamisama" and the ubiquitous "Tamagotchi" so popular in Japan at the time.
caption: The Suckling Pig by artist Adam Cooley Medium: oil / acrylic on linen canvas, Dimensions: 41 cm x 66 cm
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