Object Lesson #34

103009_Cook.jpgMike Cook,
Mixed media installation, varying and ongoing

Stairwell and passageway, Yale Commons
Grove Street near the intersection of College 

There is something to the kindness of strangers, especially when it takes the form of what might have been kitsch and turns it into a benign Wonderland with a rope swing for a touch of Fragonard. Meant originally as a sanctuary for his fellow workers at the Yale Commons, Mike Cook has been blessing this and nearby spaces with materials as varied as pasteled snow, tray stands in ranks, and arrays of seashells akin to the 18th century grottoes celebrated in a current exhibit at the Yale Center for British Art. Since this photograph was taken, the site has assumed an All Hallows tableaux, shifting with holy days and seasons as its maker wills. The one constant is his own purity of heart.

Object Lesson #33
Object Lesson #32
Object Lesson #31
Object Lesson #30
Object Lesson #29
Object Lesson #28
Object Lessons #26 & #27
Object Lesson #25
Object Lessons #23 & #24
Object Lesson #22
Object Lesson #21
Object Lesson #20

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