Margo Cooper

Detail: Brain Dance #8 36x36 in, June 2018

Margo Cooper presents
BRAIN DANCE: Going off the Ploughed Track

at the Gage Gallery Sept 25 - Oct 6.
Opening is Friday Sept 28, 5-7pm.
Artist Q & A Sunday Sept 30, 1-4pm

The original meaning of delirium was “going off the ploughed track”, a Roman medical term for madness. Brain Dance explores Cooper’s mental and emotional responses to an emergency surgery and period of recovery. The exhibition’s 15 acrylic on cradled wood panel artworks were completed between March and July 2018. “The process of painting assisted my recovery,” she says. “a rebalancing of mind and body after my brush with death”.

In January 2018, while traveling in Australia with her husband, Cooper experienced a ruptured appendix. After surgery, an infection in her abdomen led to sepsis, a serious life-threatening condition. During her week-long recovery in the hospital, Cooper experienced a common condition called postoperative delirium. This mental confusion (delirium) included visual hallucinations, sometimes involving touch and smell.

Brain Dance #1, (The Curators) 24x24 in, March 2018

Brain Dance #2, (No Edge Pieces) 24x24 in, March 2018

“Some hallucinations were very ordinary,” she recalls. At times imaginary nurses would surround her bed, getting closer and closer, until she could feel bodily warmth and smell their clothing. Others visions were more exotic, featuring amorphous entities with exaggerated expressions and movements. “I recall a lot of vivid red,” she says.

Cooper never considered her mysterious visitors to be threatening. If she opened her eyes they were gone. But while in hospital, when not asleep, “company” was always an option. “We occupied the same space in the room,” she says, “but did not interact. It was a peaceful coexistence.” After leaving the hospital, her hallucinations disappeared. Replaced by vivid dreams and nightmares for a few weeks. Lingering longer was a troubling sense of “brain fog” and difficulty with mental processing.

Cooper is eager to share her experiences and comfort others who have been through their own postoperative Brain Dance. “I know now that what happened to me is predictable and usually temporary,” she says, “but that was not explained to me.” Her medical care focused on physical aspects of healing, and left out the mental and emotional components.

Brain Dance #3, 30x30 in, April 2018

Brain Dance #9 (Terminal) 30x30 in, June 2018

Cooper returned to Victoria in mid-February and was eager to get back into the studio. Her first paintings were tentative. “The brush didn’t sit right in my hand,” she recalls, “I felt fearful and had trouble focusing.” Two of these early paintings are in the exhibition. (Brain Dance #1 and #2 above) She views these first paintings as quite different from her previous work. “To me they appear static and immobile,” she says, “disconnected from my inner workings and everyday life.”

As her strength and stamina increased, the artist’s production escalated. Paintings that used to take months were completed in days. She knew intuitively that the act of painting was leading her through recovery. Cooper accepted the lack of control and realized her brain had something to say. “Through the process of letting go and allowing the paintings to happen,
I experienced a release which has accelerated healing.”

“In Brain Dance, I made no attempt to paint my visions,” she says, “although they did inspire the series.” Her artistic process begins with generous applications of acrylic paint on sealed cradleboard. Cooper uses a handheld rubber spatula to spread the acrylic medium. On this multicoloured ground, she delineates certain areas with a brush and white paint. The emerging shapes and patterns are sometimes connected with thinner lines that add depth and movement to the composition. “One shape or coloured area will take definition,” she says, “and lead on to the next.” What emerges is always a bit of a mystery to the artist, making each painting truly unique.

Brain Dance #5 12x36 in, May 2018

Brain Dance #6 12x36 in, May 2018

Cooper was born in Vancouver and grew up in Murrayville, a small town near Langley. An artistic child, she recalls the wonder of receiving new art supplies along with drawing instructions. Cooper attended high school in Summerland, and took classes at the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts in Penticton. She recall’s one instructor comparing her artwork to Picasso. “I took this as a compliment,” she says, “even though I had no idea who he was.” During high school she entertained her fellow students with a comic strip featuring some of their teachers.

Creative talent runs in Cooper’s family. Her uncle Paul Jones is a renowned abstract painter, now in his nineties. Jones and Cooper chat regularly about art, and he came to her first show at the Gage in 2015. Jones’ series of 12 sand paintings were acquired in 2012 by the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Jones collected sand from lakes and rivers in the interior of British Columbia. He developed tools and techniques to incorporate the sand into his painting medium. The flowing lines and warm palette of his works echo the unique topography of the area.

Brain Dance #14 (Even So, I Found Their Presence Comforting) 30x30 in, July 2018

Brain Dance #8 36x36 in, June 2018

In 1986, Cooper enrolled in a two-year Fine Arts Foundation program at Langara College. Acclaimed abstract painter Gordon Caruso taught her painting, drawing and printmaking in second year. Her gifted teacher encouraged his students to “PAINT - don’t think!”. Cooper was released from the tedium of following rules surrounding colour mixing, perspective and composition. She began to paint freely, not worrying about perfection. “Gordon was my mentor,” she says, “he applauded my paintings and gave me confidence. I guess I’ve been painting for Gordon ever since.” Caruso passed in 2004, but Cooper still wishes for one more hour of studio time with her mentor, to share her latest creations.

Brain Dance #12 (Who Was That I Saw You Dancing With?) 30x24 in July 2018

Brain Dance #13, 30x24 in, July 2018

Margo Cooper shares her personal journey during a Question & Answer session on Sunday Sept 30 from 1-4pm
Opening Reception is Friday Sept 28, 5-7pm.

Gage Gallery is located at 2031 Oak Bay Avenue, Victoria BC V8R 1E5 250 592-2760, gagegallery.ca

Margo Cooper welcomes your interest in her work.
Please contact her at margocooper@shaw.ca.

Web Design, Content and Selected Photos
by Kate Cino
Kate is an arts writer published in Focus,
Yam and Boulevard.
She has a History in Art degree and Public Relations certificate from UVic.