Cooper’s Garage presents 5,000 square feet of temporary space for contemporary art in Taos. Its inaugural exhibition is Three Artists in Cooper’s Garage, February 10 and 11, 2024, 10am to 5pm.
Taos artists Larry Bell and Ron Cooper, along with their longtime friend, master clockmaker Johnny MacArthur, invite the public to see their recent work on the second weekend of February. The venue, Cooper’s Garage at 200-B Bendix Drive (off Paseo Del Canon West, see Coopers_Map), is in Taos’s sprawling “Warehouse District” on the south edge on town. Adjacent to marijuana grow houses, car mechanics, commercial storage units and other such metal structures, the space formerly filled with Cooper’s car collection is now a temporary art exhibition space. On the second weekend in February, visitors can view a new autobiographical photo series by Cooper honoring his years in Mexico, three new glass works by Bell, and a precision regulator clock, MacArthur No. 7, by MacArthur.
The artists plan to present a new art installation in Cooper’s Garage on the second weekend of each month throughout the year. On March 9-10, work by Taos artists from Bell and Cooper’s collections will be featured.
Ron Cooper has divided his time between Taos, Oaxaca Mexico, and Los Angeles since 1970. Of his founding of Del Maguey Mezcal, Cooper says: “I have spent the last 30 years doing Del Maguey as my major ART project. Now, besides making visual art, my cars speak for me. Racing them gives me that moment of paradise––transcendence–– that comes from inventing/creating them. Like a successful work of art.”
Larry Bell moved to Taos from Los Angeles in 1973. He has kept a studio in Venice Beach CA off and on since then. On this three-person exhibition., Bell says: “I feel honored to show with my two friends.”
Johnny MacArthur moved to Taos from Vermont in 1970. He explains his fascination with precision timepieces: “All my life I have been fascinated with precision devices for measurement, as of length, weight, and time. Since completing my apprenticeship with Master Clockmaker Joseph R. Bates, CMBHI in 1969 I have crafted seven precision regulators, two of which took first prize in the NAWCC National Clockmaker’s Craft competition. I started Johnny’s Fabco, my metal fabrication business, in the late ’80s, and am now retired and working part time making and repairing clocks.”
Images: Larry Bell, Ron Cooper, Johnny MacArthur at Cooper’s Garage. Photo by Ollie Bell.
UPDATE; photos of the first Cooper’s Garage exhibition
Photos by Janet Webb, February 10 and 11, 2024
