Artists - Part 21

Cooper Renner

Cooper Esteban Renner is an author and artist living in Texas.  He has written a number of books, and he writes poetry under the name Cooper Esteban.

But we're interested in his work as an artist.  The drawing above gives his views on portraying nudity.

Most of his art is simplified, cartoon-like drawings, often self-portraits, and often with captions written on the drawing, like the one above, part of a series called "I would prefer not to," referring to a quote from Herman Melville's story Bartleby the Scrivener.  In this drawing, Renner would prefer not to put on clothes.

He's an unashamed male.

This drawing states his philosophy: "This is the mask" (clothed), and "This is who I am" (naked).

Another theme that runs through his work is that he's hairy.

For those not familiar with the classic science fiction story The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells, the plot involves a mad scientist who tries to surgically transform animals into humans, resulting in creatures that are half man, half beast.

As you can see, Renner treats his hairiness as a subject for humor.

Here, the hairiness is a bit exaggerated.

Renner is not gay, but he's also not ashamed to draw erections in his art.

Like the little poem above.

Even sex gets the humorous treatment.  

We end with a self-portrait as Sisyphus.  You'll see much more about the Sisyphus myth tomorrow.

You can see see more of Cooper Renner's art on his website www.cooprenner.com or on the photo sharing site www.flickr.com/photos/r3nn3r/, where he has posted thousands of drawings.