Golden Age: Selected works by Christopher Cook at Saul Hay Gallery

Golden Age: Selected works by Christopher Cook at Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester, Manchester, 7–23 February 2020, free entry - Visit now

Saul Hay Gallery in Manchester prepares to present an exhibition of new work by artist Christopher Cook, following his involvement in the major exhibition Making a Masterpiece at York Art Gallery.

Golden Age will include pieces created in response to ideas and images from the 17th century ‘Golden Age’ of Dutch painting, particularly Still Life, and its sub-genre, Vanitas painting. Cook’s approach is to regard the Golden Age as a mixed blessing, in which cultural and scientific progress is undermined by colonialist and capitalist exploitation, and he captures some of these contradictions in these works, updating the debate for our contemporary age.

For the York Art Gallery show, Cook produced five new ‘graphites’ (as he terms them) in response to works in York’s permanent collection to replace the five works originally selected for the show. Golden Age at Saul Hay will bring the two groups of images to be viewed together for the first time.