Ron Cooper (born 1943) is an American artist who grew up in Ojai, California and started his career in the late 1960s in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. By 1973, Cooper had already participated in numerous international solo and group shows with pieces in the permanent collections of the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

and

LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961, ...

, and special exhibitions such as that at the

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

Career

Cooper began his work, art, and journey with

Mezcal Mezcal (, ), sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave. The word ''mezcal'' comes from Nahuatl , which means "oven-cooked agave", from and .What is MezcalElmezcal.org Traditionally the word "m ...

, a distilled alcoholic beverage, in 1970, when he visited the Mexican state

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

Art

Cooper's art explores light, reflection, transparency, and color, through the medium of colored fluorescent lights, neon, and glass. In his ''Separator Variations'' series the colored fluorescent fixtures, separated by glass, reflect and appear to overlap combining the colors producing a third hue. Most of his pieces, like the ''Separator Variations'' series, demonstrate the additive nature of light. His other work includes environmental installations and neon focused on the same themes. In 2009 Ron Cooper's work was included in a group exhibition at the Harwood Museum in

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

curated by

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

called ''Hopper Curates - Larry Bell, Ron Cooper,

Ronald Davis Ronald "Ron" Davis (born 1937) is an American painter whose work is associated with geometric abstraction, abstract illusionism, lyrical abstraction, hard-edge painting, shaped canvas painting, color field painting, and 3D computer graphics ...

, Ken Price & Robert Dean Stockwell''.

Mezcal

In Oaxaca, Cooper lived and worked with the locals, and strived to bring Mezcal to the world at large. He founded Del Maguey in the 1990s, bringing Mezcal to the awareness of American consumers as an artisanal or craft ingredient for many creative cocktails. Cooper has done dinner pairings with chefs

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with br ...

, and

Mary Sue Milliken Mary Sue Milliken is an American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality with a focus on Latin cuisine in the United States. Early life and education Milliken is a graduate of Chicago's Washburne Culinary & Hospitality ...

appeared on CNN with

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

, and in 2016 Cooper was awarded the

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for “Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional”.

Exhibitions

*''Ron Cooper,'' An exhibition by the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California, May 13-July 1, 1973.

References

External links

Askart
1943 births Living people American contemporary artists Artists from Taos, New Mexico Artists from Los Angeles {{US-artist-stub

Career

Art

Mezcal

Exhibitions

See also

References

External links