We are thrilled to have received new work from Dr PJ Crook.
From her studio opposite her house in the Cotswolds, PJ creates easily recognisable compositions in both large scale and small scale. She works mainly in tinted gesso on wood in acrylic and sometimes in oil on canvas. With her recurring theme of crowd interaction, she sometimes paints on a corrugated wood support, which gives a three-dimensional effect to her work. Some of these types of paintings have been used as covers for King Crimson’s albums.
She has a distinctive style by including the frame in her painted surface which gives depth and perspective to her paintings, and the viewer has a sense of being invited into each painting. PJ draws from a combination of remembered observation and imagination, resulting in an intuitive and resolved composition.
PJ was born in Cheltenham and studied at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design which was eventually absorbed by the University where she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts in 2010 and in 2011 an MBE for services to art in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
She is represented by galleries worldwide and her work is held in major public, corporate and private collections principally at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art in Japan, and in France, Saudi Arabia and the United States of America. And in England, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery, The Imperial War Museum; Standard Chartered Bank and Centric. Private collections include Paul Allen, The Marquess of Bath, the late Jackie Collins and Toyah Wilcox.