P. J. Crook
Pamela June Crook MBE (born 1945), known professionally as P J Crook, is an English painter and sculptor. Her shows have appeared in London, France, the United States, Japan, Canada, and Estonia. Her professional name "P J Crook" lacks full stops; variant stylings such as "P. J. Crook" have appeared.
Crook was born in 1945 in Cheltenham, England, where she still lives.[1] She is represented by the Panter & Hall gallery on Pall Mall in London and Galerie Alain Blondel in Paris.
Art
From a studio opposite her house, she manages compositions on a monumental scale — paintings can measure 2 × 4.5 metres and also paints small pictures, some no larger than 10 cm square. She works in tinted gesso, acrylic and sometimes in oil on canvas. She often paints crowds, either in motion in urban environments or standing still reading newspapers, many of which are on undulating 3D corrugated structures as with 'The Smell of the Horse, the Roar of the Crowd" (coll. Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum),"Other Mothers' Sons" (coll. Imperial War Museum, London) "Paper Hat" and "The Kiss" (coll. Morohashi Museum of Modern Art, Japan). These have led onto her three dimensional sculptures mainly constructed out of found objects.
In 1996, Crook co-starred with musician Toyah Wilcox on the HTV short film Rolinda Sharples: Painted out of History. The production led to a friendship between the two, and later on to Wilcox's husband, King Crimson/ProjeKcts guitarist Robert Fripp.[2] Wilcox and Fripp own some of Crook's paintings, and the latter has used them as covers for his group's releases.
Distinctions: patronage, trusts and honours
Crook is a Patron of the National Star College Cheltenham; a Patron of Linc; a Patron of Artshape; a sometime Trustee and director of ACS (the Artists' Collecting Society); Patron of Cheltenham Open Studios; a Gloucestershire Ambassador; President of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum; member of the Royal West of England Academy; Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club and the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire. PJ Crook has an honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Gloucestershire and is an honorary vice President of Gloucestershire College.
Crook was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to art.[3]
List of King Crimson album covers
PJ Crook's paintings are featured on the covers of many King Crimson albums. Many of these albums are produced by Discipline Global Mobile (DGM), the music company founded by Robert Fripp. Crook retains the copyrights and moral rights to her artwork.[4][5][6]
| Painting(s) | Album | Painting date | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Nightwatch | The Night Watch | 1996 | 1997 |
| The Four Seasons | Epitaph déjà VROOOM (booklet p. 7) |
1990-94 | 1997 1999 |
| Absent Lovers I [Nude] | Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 13–14) |
1998 | 1998 1999 |
| Absent Lovers II [Empty Bed] | Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal | 1998 | 1998 |
| Now and Then | déjà VROOOM (cover; booklet outer pages, pp. 1–6, 17, 18) | 1997-8 | 1999 |
| unidentified painting | déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 15–16) | ???? | 1999 |
| Saint Genesius | The ProjeKcts The Deception of the Thrush: A Beginners' Guide to ProjeKcts |
1988 | 1999 |
| Piano Bar | Live at the Jazz Café (front cover) | 1998 | 1999 |
| unidentified paintings | Live at the Jazz Café | ???? | 1999 |
| Masque | Masque | 1986 | 1999 |
| Cirkus | Cirkus: The Young Persons' Guide to King Crimson Live | 1993 | 1999 |
| Winter of Discontent | Heavy ConstruKction | 1993 | 2000 |
| The Writing on the Wall | Level Five (front cover) The Power to Believe (outer back inlay) The Power to Believe Tour Box |
1993 | 2001 2003 |
| déjà VROOOM | Vrooom Vrooom (Live in Mexico City) déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 11–12) |
1996 | 2001 1999 |
| On Broadway | Vrooom Vrooom (on Broadway) Live in Argentina, 1994 |
1996 | 2001 2012 |
| unidentified paintings | Ladies of the Road | ???? | 2002 |
| It Could be Us | Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With (front cover) | ???? | 2002 |
| Waiting | Shoganai Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With (back cover) |
1986 | 2002 |
| Fin de Siècle | The Power to Believe Level Five (back cover; CD label) |
1999 | 2003 2001 |
| unidentified painting | The Power to Believe (inner back inlay) Heaven & Earth (inner top lid) |
???? | 2003 |
| The Outsider | Eyes Wide Open EleKtrik: Live in Japan |
1994 | 2003 |
| Fairground | Neal and Jack and Me | ???? | 2004 |
| unidentified paintings | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One – 1969–1974 | ???? | 2004 |
| March 30 | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One (inner cover) | 1993 | 2004 |
| Harry's Bar | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One (disc 2) | 1985 | 2004 |
| Sunday (Reading in Bed) | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One (disc 3) | ???? | 2004 |
| unidentified paintings | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume Two – 1981–2003 | ???? | 2004 |
| Good Morning, M. Balladur | The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume Two (inner cover) | ???? | 2004 |
| unidentified paintings | The Condensed 21st Century Guide to King Crimson | ???? | 2004 |
| Tuesday | The Condensed 21st Century Guide to King Crimson (front cover) | 2002 | 2004 |
| unidentified painting | The Great Deceiver 1: Live 1973-1974 | ???? | 2007 |
| unidentified painting | The Great Deceiver 2: Live 1973-1974 | ???? | 2007 |
| Expresso | 40th Anniversary Tour Box The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One (disc 1) |
1997 | 2008 2004 |
| Christian Children, Marching, Singing | A Scarcity of Miracles | ???? | 2011 |
| Nocturne | The ReconstruKction of Light Heaven & Earth |
2012 | 2019 |
References
- Crooke P. J. Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Bridgeman Art Library. Accessed 22 January 2007.
- "Bredonborough". Dgmlive.com. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 15.
- The various back covers and booklet credit pages of each King Crimson release her work is featured on.
- Bambarger, Bradley (11 July 1998). "Fripp Label Does It His Way". Billboard. Vol. 110, no. 28. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 86 – via Google Books.
- Atton (2004, p. 153): Atton, Chris (2004). "6 Fan culture and the Internet". An alternative Internet. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 138–154. ISBN 978-0-7486-1770-8.
