Marguerite Van Cook

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Marguerite Van Cook

Marguerite Van Cook in 1978.
Birth name Marguerite Martin
Born Portsmouth, England
Nationality British
Field Fine Art, Punk Rock, Graphic Novels
Works Seven Miles a Second

Marguerite Van Cook (née Martin) is an artist, writer, musician/singer and filmmaker. She was born in England and now resides in New York in the Lower East Side/East Village. She attended Portsmouth College of Art and Design, Northumbria University Graphic and Fine Arts programs, BMCC, and Columbia University for English (B.A.) and Modern European Studies (M.A.). She currently attends the CUNY Graduate Center in the French Ph.D. program.

Career

Music

Van Cook was the lead singer for The Innocents, a UK punk band, who toured as opening act for The Clash and The Slits on the “Sort it Out Tour.”[1] After this group disbanded, she joined “Steppin' Razor,” an all female reggae band, as the bass player. They opened for Yellowman at Harlem World.[2] She continues to perform at downtown New York venues.

Art career

Van Cook opened and ran Ground Zero Gallery NY with her partner James Romberger in the East Village Art scene, from 1983-1986.Among the gallery presentations was the David Wojnarowicz show Mexican Diaries, which informed the video "A Fire in My Belly," which sparked a controversy when it was removed from the exhibition Hide/Seek from the National Portrait Galleryin 2011.[3][4] Under the banner of "Ground Zero", the couple curated and produced shows at Danceteria, Max Fish and other downtown clubs. In 1991, She became the director of Elston Fine Arts. In 2003, together with Romberger she directed the Fine Art elements of the Howl! Festival, an annual festival of the East Village, which included public out door sculpture exhibits, gallery shows. In 2006, she became the director and producer of the festival.

Van Cook has presented solo and group shows and her work is in many major public collections.[5] Van Cook has presented works as a performance artist.[6] She was part of a collaborative group curated by Carlo McCormick, which included, James Romberger, David West, Marilyn Minter, David Wojnarowicz, Christof Kolhofer, Keiko Bonk and Luis Frangella. Together they painted installations in New York and in Virginia.[7]

Film

Van Cook produced and directed the film Funky Shui in New York. Additionally, she appeared in David Wojnarowicz and Tommy Turner's film Where Evil Dwells, as well as taking the role of Red Snapper in Nick Zedd and Rev.Jen’s series Electra Elf.

Writing

While attending Columbia University, Van Cook won the Van Rensselaer Poetry Prize, previously won by notables such as John Berryman and Thomas Merton.[8] Her book "Stigma" is in the "Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection" and her periodical The Murdering Class was carried by art book distributors "Printed Matter".[9] Other publications in which her work has appeared include "Peau Sensible", or "Sensitive Skin", "The Hooded Utilitarian" and in Sounds for whom she wrote music reviews.

Comics and graphic novels

Of her comics work, Van Cook is best known for her color work on the graphic novel Seven Miles a Second, with Romberger and David Wojnarowicz.[10][11] The original artwork was shown at the New Museum and the comic was included in the Museum of Modern Art "Open Ends, Millennium Show".[12] She has worked for DC Comics as a writer and colorist. She has collaborated on a comic Ground Zero with James Romberger, which was serialized through the 1980s and 1990s in various downtown literary magazines.[13][14]

References

  1. ↑ Advert for the Lyceum, 28 and 29 December 1978.
  2. ↑ The Innocents - Classic UK all girl Punk Rock with images and reviews
  3. ↑ Smith, Paul (September 1987). "David Wojnarowicz at Ground Zero". Art in America: 182–83. 
  4. ↑ Corriel, Michelle (November 1986). "Approaching Ground Zero". Say!. 
  5. ↑ Reid, Calvin, "Marguerite Van Cook: Cold War". 108 Newsletter, 6 1985
  6. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/anti-empire-anti-war-cabare/oclc/85032016&referer=brief_results#details-allauthors
  7. ↑ Lotringer, Sylvère (2006). Ambrosino, Giancarlo, ed. David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side. Interviews by Sylvère Lotringer. NY: Semiotext(e). 
  8. ↑ http://www.wikicu.com/Van_Rensselaer_Poetry_Prize
  9. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/stigma/oclc/232641406
  10. ↑ http://comicscomicsmag.com/2010/09/seven-miles-a-second.html
  11. ↑ "A Renegade of Expression: David Wojnarowicz's Autofiction in Comics by David A. Berona". Image and Narrative site. 
  12. ↑ http://archive.newmuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Occurrence/Show/occurrence_id/322
  13. ↑ "Up Is Up But So Is Down, NY’s Downtown Literary Scene, 1974-1992". NYU Press, 2006: 182-83
  14. ↑ "Creating Comics!" Eds. Judith Salavetz and Spencer Drate. Rockport Publishers, 2010. p.120-123

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