Metamorphosing common materials, Diana Cooper (1964) creates complex systems that engage and transform into multi-sensory environments. Cooper’s work, which has won the Rome Prize, combines drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation practices. Diana lives and works in New York City and has taught at Columbia University, Cornell, University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Princeton University, and New York University. The artist’s first love was dance, and she has danced, improvised, and choreographed from a very young age.
“Aside from the act of making, looking is probably the most stimulating thing I can do.” —Lauren Braun, “Spotlight on…. Diana Cooper,” Paper Tiger, April 2009.
“In a way, my work is simultaneously the sketch and the finished product. The process of making is almost always revealed to some extent in the finished product.” —Lauren Braun, “Spotlight on…. Diana Cooper,” Paper Tiger, April 2009.
“The impulses to experiment and to improvise are at the heart of what I do.” —Lauren Braun, “Spotlight on…. Diana Cooper,” Paper Tiger, April 2009.
“Starting with something that isn’t particularly special offers more potential for metamorphosis.” —Lauren Braun, “Spotlight on…. Diana Cooper,” Paper Tiger, April 2009.
“The aesthetic impulse and its relationship to futility fascinate me.” —Lauren Braun, “Spotlight on…. Diana Cooper,” Paper Tiger, April 2009.
“I am interested in how logical systems can spin out of control, in how you can start with a logical system and through sheer repetition and excess create something that unravels and stops making sense.” —Cooper, Diana, Margo A. Crutchfield, Barbara Pollack, and Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. 2007. Beyond the line: The art of Diana Cooper. Cleveland, Ohio: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
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