Images of an almost define beauty, heavily rooted in the depths of our own visual history. A flirtage with the ancients, a tribute to the human form and it’s sensuality. Let me introduce the creator of these images, Martin Cooper.
The Altis: an interpretation of the Olympic games
As I stated before the art of Cooper has it’s roots in the history of the arts, especially the art of the classical culture. An obvious example of this connection is the ‘The Altis’. A series of photographs inspired by the Greek Olympic games. He is not trying to reproduce these visions from the past, but he reinvents them, he creates new images based on the subject. The images are showing interpretations of the different sports played at the games, but also of the Greek gods.
A beautiful example is the female Hermes. The nude woman is standing in the starting position we know from the marathon, and she has white wings attached to her feet. But Hermes was a male and as far as I know not associated with the Olympic games. He was the messenger of the Gods and the son of Zeus. As this example clearly shows Cooper is not in any way trying to be historical correct, he primarily uses this background as his source of inspiration.
The Altis of Cooper itself has been the inspiration for the choreographer Rebecca Rice of the Boston Ballet to make her version of it in 2001. I can really imagine her choice, the human form is so graciously and sensually visualized in the Altis images that it’s language can easily be extended in the dance. Cooper designed the costumes for the ballet as well.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the subtile art of Cooper as much as I do and I would encourage you to have a look at his online portfolio.
