| Delicately painted portraits of famous females form the delicious content of the works of Alika Cooper who was recently featured in the project room at LightBox. A Master of Fine Arts graduate from the California College of the Arts, Alika investigates the socially infectious personas of a handful of celebrities, classic and contemporary, including women as widely revered as Greta Garbo, Twiggy, Anne Bancroft, Joan Crawford and Goldie Hawn. She creates multiple drafts of each starlet inspired by what must have been copious research and observation. Old headshots and photographs are like wallpaper for her studio. |
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Alika Cooper
Delicately painted portraits of famous females form the delicious content of the works of Alika Cooper who was recently featured in the project room at LightBox. A Master of Fine Arts graduate from the California College of the Arts, Alika investigates the socially infectious personas of a handful of celebrities, classic and contemporary, including women as widely revered as Greta Garbo, Twiggy, Anne Bancroft, Joan Crawford and Goldie Hawn.
She creates multiple drafts of each starlet inspired by what must have been copious research and observation. Old headshots and photographs are like wallpaper for her studio. With the understated synthesis of an opaque, neutral gouache palette on earth-toned printmaking paper, she harnesses sketch by sketch the transforming aura of Hollywood stars. Alika’s work comes at an important time when media focus on celebrity is pervasive and highly influential throughout our society.
