Stretch to Fill Screen, an Exhibition of Paintings by Benjamin Cook

Benjamin Cook is an educator and painter, researching the relationships between painting as a physical object and painting as a documented image, disseminated across various digital interfaces and platforms. His paintings, and online-based projects have been exhibited at Hashimoto Contemporary (LA), Zg Gallery (Chicago), Gallery COA (Montreal), The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts (New Hampshire), and Cidney Ruckers Gallery (New York). Cook received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is an Assistant Professor of Painting at the University of Louisville. He is represented by Zg Gallery and lives in Louisville with his wife and dog.

According to Cook, “I make paintings that are aware that they will be photographed and question the role of image-based documentation. There is no question that contemporary modes of image-dissemination, such as Instagram, Websites, Blogs, etc., have changed the ways in which people are most likely to engage with a painting. The ease of online viewing, coupled with an attention economy fueled by metric-based engagement has created an environment that seduces a creator to at least consider how any art object will translate as a digital image or video, suitable for sharing online.”

A reception for Stretch to Fill Screen, will take place at Catapult on Friday, September 4 from 5-7 p.m.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Joni Hand at jhand@semo.edu.