As a writer for many years and now having the expression of art I have quickly realized art is the story I am writing without using words. My ability to be a world citizen and now communicating in a language everyone speaks, this is a powerful universal code of images and colors that communicates directly to the subconscious mind. By using mirrors and glass in my art, I am able to offer innumerable symbolic connotations for the audience to decipher while at the same time confronting the existence of their own reflection – an inner portrait of what you see, and who you are looking back at you - each reflections being very different.Meanwhile "Emergence", born of a minimalist aesthetic, contains symbols, colours and forms that represent the LGBTQIA+ community. In the same way that the rainbow flag has always been located in the centre of my life, it is placed here in the centre of my work. In contrast to the white plane on which they stand in stark relief, the rainbow colours represent our community's existence, our increased visibility and our emergence into prominent societal positions throughout the cities. This work represents a joyful acknowledgement of the vibrant diversity that our community contributes and the continued advancement of our rights. Other symbols I have worked with here are the symbols “+” and “x”. The symbol “+” is found in the centre of the artwork and in the abbreviation LGBTQIA+. The “+” is the point of inclusion and welcome for all gender diversity. By reorienting the artwork, the “+” symbol becomes an 'x', used here by me as a symbol to represent diverse sexual desires. This letter has been adopted by the queer community in Brazil to substitute the letters 'a' and 'o' with the intention of removing masculine and feminine words to create, in its place, a new neutral, non-
binary language.
Rita Cook is a Dallas-based artist who creates art by using acrylic paint on mirror and glass, and to a lesser degree on canvas and paper.
Her style offers a hint of Lyrical Abstraction meets Orphism using colors and expressions that echo infinite forms and reflections. It is a swirling combination of what one of her strong influence’s Wassily Kandinsky (a pioneer of abstract modern art) offers as he said, “the artist training not only her eye, but her soul.”
Considered sustainable in her art, Rita’s mirrors and canvas are recycled using discovered and repurposed material, thus giving each piece a new life through her creations.
“Of all the media I have used to paint and create this year the mirror has finally been the media with acrylic that is where my creation belongs right now,” Rita adds. “The mirrors have become the easiest way to create my magical artworks because mirrors do not lie. Each mirror has a history with the frame that has protected it for possibly years. When the owner of my mirror art piece looks at the images on the mirror - the mirror reflects back exactly what the owner is meant to see, but the soul and the ego can be friends and the mirror will reflect what will be will be, but each person can change that destiny. The mirror changes with the story of the owner.”
Rita’s recent show “Self Portrait” in Dallas, Texas at E Gallery in the Dallas Design District featured 40 of her mirror and glass pieces with a six-month exhibition that closed in February.
Her work is also on loan at the City of Glenn Heights, Texas; and her Wolves & Ravens Art Gallery pop-up is featured in two shops in the Dallas area.
Rita is also well-known in Texas and around the globe as a travel/auto/lifestyle writer; political journalist; author of 10 published books and a former press secretary for a Texas State Representative. She has visited 108 countries, all 50 states and previously lived in Los Angeles, California; Long Island, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Paris, France and she spent six months traveling in India as the means to find the energy of the goddess Kali.
