Artist Diana Zoe Coop will be exhibiting her latest works, The Artist’s Garden, at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery. Her newest botanical paintings tell about her creative process and inspirations from her journey to Mexico.
The gallery, which is in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCCGV), will host several exhibitions and events May 15–July 5 with The Artist’s Garden June 7–29.
The director at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, Linda Lando, is enthusiastic about Coop’s new exhibition because she held an exhibition a very long time ago in her own gallery.
Lando first saw Coop’s work while preparing for that exhibition.
“I had a show of her work in my own private commercial gallery many years ago – her gymnastic costumes, which were extremely beautiful. They were just stunning. She is known internationally in this field. So beautiful,” says Lando.
A new exhibition: A travel to forest garden
Diana Zoe Coop in her workshop. | Photo courtesy of Diana Zoe Coop
Coop’s paintings are based on the elements of Japanese gardens, such as water features, seasons and flowers. While she is always creating new works, she also gives workshops in her private studio at Granville Island.
In The Artist’s Garden, Coop focuses on her creative process with the relationship between nature and art. Living in Vancouver, she gets especially inspired by the North Shore mountains. Her botanical paintings are expressionistic, and they come to canvas from her own garden.
Lando eagerly describes what makes Coop’s work interesting for this new exhibit.
“I think the enthusiasm of colour. Her works [grab the] attention with bright, bold colour, movement and light, flowers and forest.”
A first-hand look at Frida
Lando says that Coop going to Mexico City as a Canadian artist and experiencing the city of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s work, creates an emotional and artistic connection between her and Kahlo.
“Frida Kahlo uses the same words – bright and bold. Very same kind of things Coop is working on. It’s thrilling and creates a large amount of curiosity,” says Lando.
The exhibition of The Artist’s Garden will be on display at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery starting June 7, 2018.
“We have an opening evening with the attend of Coop on June 7, Thursday. And then the gallery continues to be open the same as Jewish Community Centre hours. The entrance is free and there is no obligation to purchase,” says Lando.
To see where the inspiration of Coop’s work comes from and to listen to the story of the exhibition from Coop’s voice, Lando is inviting all art-lovers to the opening evening and also to the rest of the exhibition days.
“[The] whole gallery will be filled by her works. She has 25 pieces and they probably start with eight-inch by ten-inch pieces. I think the biggest one might be thirty by a fourty-inch or something. So, just a huge variety of her work with the theme being the Frida Kahlo idea,” Lando says. “I hope people will come, see and enjoy the work. It’s an open gallery. It’s free for all.”
Gymnastics costume
Diana Zoe Coop in her workshop. by Diana Zoe Coop. | Photo courtesy of Diana Zoe Coop
Diana Zoe Coop, who is Vancouver-based, is also an international costume designer for dance, gymnastics, synchro and skating. Her costumes have been worn by Canadian athletes at World Championships, World Cups, the Grand Prix and the Olympic Games.
She obtained her post-graduate degrees from Syracuse University in New York and Saint Martin’s School of Art in London, England. Early on in her career, she started to take part in exhibitions with her paintings, drawings and three-dimensional works across both Canada and the United States. Her works hang in private and corporate collections in Canada, USA, U.K., Holland, Italy, Australia, Bulgaria and many other European Countries.
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