Barrie Cooke, 1931–2014
Megaceros Hibernicus, 1983
Cooke’s art often deals with issues of nature and culture, particularly with the formation and transformation of the environment over time. The skeleton of Megaceros Hibernicus, the largest deer of the species which flourished at the end of the last ice age, was recovered from the bog-lands of Ireland. For Cooke the elk represented a powerful symbol of pre-civilised consciousness. In Cooke’s painting the elk emerges from the gloomy bog-land with its enormous antlers treated like massive antennae transmitting, as it were, a message from the past. Yielded up by the bog, the elk demonstrates the process of perpetual interchange that occurs in the cycles of nature.
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | Unframed, 168.5 x 183 cm |
| Credit Line | IMMA Collection: Gordon Lambert Trust, 1992 |
| Item Number | IMMA.173 GL |
| Copyright |
© The Estate of Barrie Cooke For copyright information, please contact the IMMA Collections team: [email protected]. |
| Tags |
Artworks by Barrie Cooke
Lough Arrow Barrie Cooke 1999
Electric Elk Barrie Cooke 1996
Mine Tailings Clutha Valley II Barrie Cooke 1988 - 1989
Red Forrestry Knot Barrie Cooke 1984 - 1986
Forestry Box Barrie Cooke 1976
Couple Barrie Cooke 1967
