The cyclicality of nature, of growth, decay and regeneration are central themes in Cooke’s paintings. In particular, water as a physical phenomenon in terms of its environmental, geological and life-forming functions has been his enduring subject matter. The water-logged areas of the natural world, not only in Ireland, but also in Borneo, New Zealand, the US and South Africa, where Cooke intermittently travelled and painted, compelled him throughout his career. Cooke’s paintings are strongly expressive, semi-abstract works of an intuitive, visceral nature. From the 1980’s, his work increasingly called attention to the exponentially increasing pollution of Ireland’s waterways, as in ‘Lough Arrow’.