Courttney Cooper, a Vernacular Artist from Cincinnati, Ohio, is known for drawing large-scale cityscapes of his hometown that respond to changes in the city's architecture and environment. These drawings, punctuated with idealistic imagery and commentary, are dedicated to what Cooper calls Cincinnati/Zinzinnati Ohio USA. His title for the city refers to a dualistic site both real and fantastic, where the pragmatic is depicted alongside an Oktoberfest celebration that never ends.
A self-proclaimed "map artist", Cooper combines direct observation of city sites with an impressive memory of buildings and streets gleaned from his travels. Using information gathered from phonebooks and various random maps, Cooper recreates a cityscape of both Cincinnati and his beloved Oktoberfest-ed Zinzinnati, USA.
Cooper's practice is a perpetual celebration of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, USA, a commemorative and nostalgic place that exists parallel to or as a transparent layer upon Cincinnati, Ohio. Hot air balloons, beers, pretzels and banner-carrying airplanes fill the horizons above his three-quarter view landscapes. The large maps are drawn exclusively with ball-point pen on multiple sheets of office paper, glued together to accommodate additional drawing space as needed. He works on one cityscape at a time, taking from three months to one year to complete one piece.
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