Nigel Cooke (b. 1973, Manchester, United Kingdom) is a British painter whose work explores and expands figurative painting. His practice focuses on the space between abstraction and representation, leading to a body of work that has gradually moved toward a more structured and condensed visual language.
Cooke studied at Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art in London and holds a PhD in Philosophy. His research looked at non-linear systems and was shaped by thinkers such as Georges Bataille and Michel Serres. These ideas still inform his work, especially in how he builds visual systems and connects natural and conceptual forms.
His paintings draw from fields like palaeontology, neuroscience, mythology and zoology. In recent works, he uses fine, linear marks that suggest different layers at once—such as anatomy, networks and landscapes. This approach brings together categories like human and animal, or body and environment, into one shared space.
Cooke often develops his paintings from sketches made on site in different locations. These observations become a set of forms that he reuses and adapts over time. His technique combines staining on raw linen with layers of paint, mixing depth with a strong sense of surface. Traces of change and revision remain visible, with loose, expressive areas set against more controlled ones.
His work has been shown in major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hammer Museum, and the Astrup Fearnley Museet. His paintings are also held in leading public collections such as the Milwaukee Art Museum. He is currently presenting Bad Habits, his first solo exhibition in Italy, at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, on the occasion of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.