Jim Cooper's Peppermint and Incense, at the Dunedin Public
Art Gallery.
Dunedin ceramics artist Jim Cooper launched his latest
exhibition, "Peppermint and Incense", at the Dunedin Public Art
Gallery yesterday.
The exhibition is based on the cover of the Rolling Stones
album Their Satanic Majesties Request.
It follows his "Sgt P" exhibition of 2007, which was a
sculptural homage to the Beatle's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band album cover.
"I build everything upside-down," Cooper said yesterday.
"It's about not having too much control, which will hopefully
provide me with something new.
Most of the characters seem to suggest themselves."
The characters include The Beatles, Lauren Bacall and
Lawrence of Arabia.
Cooper said he spent about four and a-half months creating
the 970 pieces in the exhibition.
"But I did nothing else. No housework, no washing. I'd hear
the phone ringing, but I couldn't find it."
A ceramics lecturer at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art,
Cooper says he is influenced by pop icons and celebrities,
"to create a ugly beautiful exhibition which reflects the
media, culture and how we portray ourselves and others".
"Peppermint and Incense" is on in the Dunedin Public Art
Gallery until February 1.
Entry is free.
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