Robert D. Cocke
We spend most of our lives indoors, encased in a technological bubble, cunningly devised to entertain and distract us to the point of addiction. What are we trying to avoid? Of course it is those age-old existential questions - Where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens when we die? We are a part of nature. When we connect with the natural world, we step away from information and entertainment, and we open ourselves up to the possibility of an older, deeper wisdom and the peace that comes with that wisdom.
-Robert Cocke
Robert Cocke’s intimate paintings are like looking through enchanted keyholes and finding a magical world of wondrous beauty. Elements of the natural world are arranged into unnatural formations and improbable combinations resulting in surrealistic landscapes. Currently living and working in Arizona, Cocke is awed and inspired by the mystery of nature and the enchantment of light.
Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1950, Cocke received a BFA in Painting from the University of Arizona, and an MFA from the University of Iowa. He has exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe. Public collections include: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City IA; Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA; Sprint Inc. Kansas City, MO; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Bank One, Phoenix, AZ; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM.
Artist News
Robert Cocke’s Painting REALM was acquired and added to the permanent collection of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, MO.
Gallery artist Robert D. Cocke will be represented in a major exhibition at the Tucson Museum of Art. The show, titled "Into the Night," examines the long tradition of the nocturne in art, and the various ways that artists consider the enigmatic notion of the night. More than 65 artists, working in a variety of different media, will be included in the exhibition, which was curated by TMA Chief Curator Julie Sasse. Cocke's work is an oil on panel painting titled "The Key-- Hotel Capricorn."
Exhibition dates are February 27-- June 10, 2016.
“Six West”, a new oil on canvas by Robert Cocke is an otherworldly landscape that chronicles his fascination with the environment. In this 36×36 inch painting, the southwestern desert seems to exist in a science fiction world. Highly detailed, and carefully painted, the landscape is filled with mounds and dotted with rocks. Whether created by man or natural elements, the artist leaves to our imagination. Curious plants seem to thrive in the harsh climate while striking cloud formations float on the horizon and above, casting shadows on this beautiful but mysterious land under the benevolent gaze of an eclipsing moon. Please click to see more paintings by Robert Cocke.

Quisque iaculis facilisis lacinia. Mauris euismod pellentesque tellus sit amet mollis.