Nigel Cooke: Midnights

Pace Gallery presents Nigel Cooke: Midnights, a solo exhibition of six new works on paper by Cooke that further explore the artist’s recent shift to abstraction and reflect his practice during quarantine over the past months.

Cooke began making these new, large-scale drawings, composed with dark hues of blue and black, after twilight while in isolation at his studio in Canterbury, UK this March and April. As an artist, Cooke shares that he is “naturally self-isolating,” but has taken this extra step of working in the night to “fall out of step with the schedule of the local world one extra degree,” a state which “feels more recognizable as the usual conditions for art making.” The artist notes that creating at night allows for “a  space for deeper thought” and the works in this series “celebrate the peaceful unity of the night, the precious value isolation holds for creative expression.”

This new body of work will be unveiled on Pace’s online platform on May 15 and will remain on view through June 2, 2020. All proceeds from the first sale will be donated to the NHS Charities Together, to benefit patients and healthcare workers affected by COVID-19.

The artist will be leading a digital studio walkthrough timed to the opening of the exhibition, moderated by Pace Curatorial Director Mark Beasley, featuring these new works on paper in situ on Friday, May 15 at 11am EDT/ 4pm BST.