Uomo Universale

about the work of the conceptual artist Cosco (°1978 Louis De Cordier )

Cosco (°1978 Louis De Cordier ) is a conceptual artist, who can best be described as a contemporary ‘uomo universale’; being a poet, sculptor, painter, architect, printmaker, photographer, independent researcher, activist, educator, and even an accomplished counselor, horseman, beekeeper, farmer and librarian. His work depends on an enhanced awareness of the world around us. The universal aspects of our everyday life. His projects, sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints & installations search to revitalise and reintegrate themselves, into a world-view which grew beyond that offered by Western industrialised civilization. 

He strives to extend our perceptions from the ordinary, and to see the beauty of the timeless presence which lies within it. To do so he doesn’t fear to wander off into participatory projects, like his archaeological labyrinth expedition in Egypt, the building of a high mountain library in Spain or a honeybee conservancy project in Nepal. Especially these cross-bordering art projects require ongoing cooperation, since he sees it impossible to catalyze growth without the synergy of others. In 2011 Cosco relocated with his family to the Sierra Nevada in Spain, to life an off-grid and more natural life, to implement the vision of a social future. Today, Cosco is internationally known for its philanthropic projects, and recognized within the contemporary art world for its unique approach to social sculpture.

For the ‘key’ duo-exhibition, Cosco created a participatory artwork employing almonds as media, and a series of paintings and sculptures, combining an appreciation for the value of spontaneity with a meticulously planned process. Blending rigor of proportio and freedom, allowed him to create these white ‘timescapes’ that retain the compositional aspect of sacred geometry and pure monochrome abstraction. The presented  works are created out of enjoying ‘being-time’, in the everydayness of 'here and now'. Cosco experiences time not an absolute ‘thing’. In this work he makes no distinction between past, present, and future, or between 'before' and 'after'. For Cosco, the act of painting monochromes is a moving meditation, generating expressive works with a particularly natural, cosmological and living quality. Transmitting his very life force and awareness to the white oil paint in an intense of concentration. This by abandoning all true to life perspective, figuration or symbolism, and working with a refined spatial poetry, which makes one reflect on the eternal nature of reality. 

The art installation ‘almond cracker' was concipated specially for the key exhibition, to invite the visitor to interact by placing a nut upon a river rock, and crack it with a hand sized pebble. Stones collected by Cosco on his walks along mountain creeks. Organic almonds grown and harvested by hand on his almond farm in the Alpujarra.

This piece resonates strongly with the practices of the ­conceptual-art movement known as “relational aesthetics,” where the artwork creates a social environment in which people participate in an activity. The installation prompts the viewer to interact with form–shape–texture–warmth–taste-sound, participating in the useful function of the work. This interactive sculpture pursues to connect the ‘experiencer’ with our human origin, bridging our distant past, with the vision of a sustainable future, through direct action.