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biography ı discography ı paintings ı photos ı samples ı live ı mail |
Joseph’s formal
training as an artist started in San Francisco at the Art Institute in 1970.
Driven by an insatiable desire to depict his dreams, he loves drawing from
nature while working plen-aire, also influenced by the expressionists and
surrealists. During his formative years, music and songwriting meshed with
creating soundtracks for many painting and drawing series. These interests in
naturalism and symbolism came together in Coco’s research on synethesia (collateral
sensations of color and sound) for his Master of Fine Arts degree at Rutgers
University in New Jersey, 1986. There, he studied with Leon Golub and Rafael
Montanez Ortiz, with an emphasis in painting, video and computer arts.
Anthropology, which Joseph initially studied in his first year of college, led
to an interest in mythology and the archetypal themes that would eventually
embrace his art and music. In 1974, Joe received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from Northern Arizona University. Living in Flagstaff, Arizona through 1980, he
producing eight one-man exhibitions while performing regionally. The influence
of his studio partners of five years, John Running (photographer) and Luis Tomas
(artist-designer) gave him an appreciation for Native American, Mexican culture,
mythology and color.
Such influences can be seen in Coco’s painting series SOUND IMAGE / FALLS RIVER
concerning synesthesia. He combined his original instrumental music composed for
the art as a soundtrack to his original video. SOLAR ECLIPSE AND A NUCLEAR
HOLOCAUST, a drawing series, seeks to heal personal and societal fears of
nuclear annihilation/isolation through dream imagery. SOLAR ECLIPSE toured the
United States in ten solo exhibits from 1984 through 1994. An accompanying video
to his original soundtrack and drawings from the series has been included in
over twenty invitational shows, such as the United Nations “Exhibition for A
Nuclear Free Society”.
THE LAST FULL MOON series, started in 1972, is a continuing series of paintings.
Each painting is started in December on the day the full moon rises. This is an
autobiographical project that includes Joseph’s fascination with astronomy and
astrology. The theme might be the first dedicated to the study of the moon by a
single artist. With over 65 individual images created to date, Joe is planning a
major exhibition of the series by the year 2010.
As the Assistant Project director and Press Director for the first INTERNATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM OF ART AND INVISIBLE REALITY, Coco assisted 67 artists participating
in a seven-day and evening conference of 74 events including, performance
artists, native culture practitioners, scientists, psychologists and psychics in
exhibitions, site specific sculptures and panel discussions at Franklyn Furnace
in New York City and Rutgers Galleries in New Jersey.
Joseph’s 3rd Int’l Exhibition of IF WALLS COULD SPEAK took place in Geraci,
Sicily the summer of 2006 in the village where his grandparents lived before
immigrating to America in 1910. The exhibition premiered in December 2006 in
Teatro Vittorio Emanuele, Messina, Sicily. This exhibition of 106 paintings and
drawings was in five galleries of Italy’s second largest opera house. This show
also included a soundtrack of 13 instrumentals, composed and recorded for the
series. Dedicated to “redefining the image of Sicily”, the art was depicted in a
book of 82 short stories Joe wrote during his five-year residence in Sicily and
Portugal.
FOLIAGE has been an on-going series for over thirty years. Capturing light on
the surface of short-lived blossoms, Foliage started in Flagstaff, Arizona in
1975, concentrating on particular times of day, and particular blossoming forms,
often working as large as 66”x42”. In 2006, Joseph worked on smaller canvases,
concentrating on evening color schemes.
Over four hundred and twenty five paintings, drawings, prints and videos are
collected in over two hundred and thirty public and private collections (see the
comprehensive exhibition record). With 55 solo shows in America and Europe, Joe
has exhibited in over 62 competitive and collective shows since 1970, while in
the collections of MOMA San Francisco; GULBENKIAN MUSEUM Lisbon; KRIDEL
SECURITIES, Paris; The GALLERIA NAZIONALE DE CONTEMPORANEO, Rome; and the
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Boston. Currently he is teaching in the New
Jersey universities of William Paterson, Montclair State, and Centenary College.
The Ecstatic
Generosity of Music
oil/linen 38"x34" 1975 Flagstaff, AZ
Centenary College professor Joseph
Coco presents Paterson Great Falls exhibit
HACKETTSTOWN — Centenary College adjunct professor Joseph Coco will present his
oil paintings of the Paterson Great Falls 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 in the
Front Parlours of the Edward W. Seay Administration Building at the
Hackettstown-based institution.
Paterson Great Falls, located in Paterson, was designated as a United States
National Park in March 2009. The Great Falls is the second-largest waterfall in
the East Coast.
The Paterson Great Falls helped power the American Industrial Revolution under
the leadership of Paterson’s founder, Alexander Hamilton, more than 235 years
ago. As a result of securing its new status as a National Park,the Paterson
Great Falls will receive federal aid to maintain and preserve this site.
Coco’s paintings will be exhibited at the National Park Association’s future
celebrations of the falls’ new status in Paterson, Newark and Washington, D.C.
Coco’s exhibit at Centenary College will be the first time his Paterson Great
Falls paintings will be on public display after the National Park designation.
“I am so pleased to highlight one of our instructors in this manner,” says Dr.
Barbara-Jayne Lewthwaite, president of Centenary College. “It is my hope to
continue to offer these type of opportunities for the members of the community
to participate in and utilize the college as a regional cultural resource.”
By Warren Reporter, November 13, 2009
PATERSON GREAT FALLS - PASSAIC RIVER SERIES
The Paterson Great Falls on the Passaic River entered the registry of American
National Parks in March 2009. This legislative initiative put forth by
Congressman Bill Pascrell -8th District of New Jersey-, designates the Great
Falls as a national landmark. President Obama signed the urban treasure into
legislation.
The waterfalls powered America’s first industrial park, which opened in 1800.
Planned by our founding fathers, the Society Of Urban Manufacturer’s – S.U.M.
was headed by Alexander Hamilton. Through an ingenious raceway system along the
Passaic River, water cascaded over water wheels that powered the Rogers
Locomotive mills, where the first trains were manufactured. Advances in loom
technology established cotton and wool production, which lead to silk
fabrication. Paterson became known as silk city. Other firsts in industrial
America get there start as a result of Paterson’s industrial park:
pharmaceuticals; dyes; rubber; prop motors for aviation; automotive motors for
speed racers and motor cycles; the Colt 45 pistols and Winchester rifles; let
alone the advances in caliber types for munitions. Submarines? Why of coarse?
The first submarine was launched in the Passaic River just at the McBride Avenue
Bridge which today spans behind the waterfalls, just before they cascade over
the Ramapo fault line. Did I say fault line? That’s right, the Garret Mountain
Ridge which makes it’s way northeast toward High Mountain, heading into the
Ramapos, is the first major uplift as you come west from the Hudson. Passing
“the great swamp” – the Meadowlands meet the second largest Falls in the
northeast, the first step of the greater Appalachian Range.
Yes, the Leni-Lenapi Indians knew a good thing, for this is where the natives
held their weddings, with ceremonies to celebrate the birth of their children.
The Dutch followed their example, and developed the first honeymoon hotels to
service the New World, and honor baptisms. The British followed suite, and
developed the Falls as honeymoon central, way before Niagara Falls captivated
the nations nuptial fantasy.
Joseph Coco’s paintings of the water falls, representing the four seasons, and
four different times of day, are the largest group of works of the Falls to
date, 66”x42” each. Created between 1983-85, the artist also composed music for
his painting and drawing series entitled, SOUND IMAGE – FALLS RIVER. The music
is incorporated as a soundtrack for the images on video and DVD. Joe Coco’s
album entitled GARDEN STATE – The Gateway, released in 2006, celebrates the
artist / musicians love hate relationship with his native state. Plans are now
being made to show the paintings and drawings at the Department of the Interior,
New Jersey’s State Chamber of Commerce, as well as events Congressman Pascrell
is initiating locally.
You will be amazed at the long list of ‘firsts’ that make New Jersey’s history
so fascinating. It is about time New Jersey gets to up its image, for it has
been held down by lack of self-esteem for too long. America’s typical sense of
amnesia might start with all the bad things people say about our great state.
Yes, it’s true, the Passaic River became the first most polluted river in the
States as a result of making our nation the first in industry around the world,
but we were also the first to address that issue too, starting the first wave of
‘green movements’ back in the early 1900’s, and don’t forget the first labor
unions. The list goes on, and on. Just head to the web and entertain yourself
about the little engine that is the Garden State!
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Paterson Great Falls -
Passaic River Paterson, New Jersey Early Afternoon - |
Bucks has glimpse of marvels
at Great Falls
Bucks has its own view of Great Falls National Park
Riegelsville artist displays paintings of his hometown, Paterson
As a result Paterson actually became the breeding ground of American industry.
It was famous for generations for its silk fabrics, Colt firearms and Rodgers
train engines as well as color dyes and the pharmaceutical industry, all
dependent on the falls for power.
"In my imagination, the embryonic shapes seen in the swirling waters symbolized
the birth of our nation as an industrial force, as a torrent of immigrants carne
to Paterson to work their dreams in the land of the free," Coco says.
Coco teaches art and music appreciation at Delaware Valley College, Centenary
College and Montclair State University. He has produced a staggering number of
artworks as well as an impressive list of recordings and has written a blues
opera. Bucks County Herald
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Paterson Great Falls -
Passaic River Paterson, New Jersey Late Afternoon - |
Years ago a 10-year old Joe Coco walked beside his uncle along the streets
of Paterson, N.J., looking forward to munching on' the hot dog his uncle had
promised him. He noticed the mist rising from the Great Falls on the Passaic
River; curious, he asked, "What's that?" His uncle told him.
As they moved closer to the falls, the young Joe Coco was "blown away." The
falls still do that to him.
That was the beginning of the Riegelsville artist's ongoing love affair with
the falls that are the centerpiece of a brand new Great Falls National
Historic Park. "It was a hallelujah moment for me," says Coco when the falls
attained national status last month.
An internationally known artist and musician, Coco has since celebrated the
77-foot-high falls in both art and music. The four paintings on, display
this month at the Riegelsville Public Library are part of a series of the
Great Falls created in several seasons and at varying times of day and night
between December 1983 and September 1984. He has poured into the paintings
his passion for natural beauty his spiritualism and his interest in history.
Looking back to his first visit to the falls he says, "Even as a child I was
extremely impressed." But as he moved from childhood to manhood, he "wanted
to gel as far from New Jersey as I could" and headed for the San Francisco
Art Institute. He later earned his bachelor of fine arts at Northern Arizona
University.
Coco lived in Flagstaff while building his artistic reputation in the West,
but he was confounded by Westerners' vision of his home state. "I found I
was constantly defending New Jersey. 'No, no, it's not like that, I'd tell
them. It's really beautiful." He later returned to New Jersey - and the
falls - but also lived and worked in Italy and Portugal.
In 1986 the artist-musician completed a master of fine arts degree at
Rutgers University, where his interests in naturalism and symbolism led to
research in synethesia, which he describes as correlations between color and
sound. He later created sound-tracks and videos for the series.
As an artist, Coco is drawn by the natural beauty of the eons-old Great
Falls which are tucked in an ancient fault line in the Watchung mountain
range. "As the earth separated over millions of years, two massive opposing
stone walls formed the chasm," he says. "You can imagine the rapture the
falls have inspired in the mystic mind and romantic heart of man."
He sees the falls spiritually as "a sacred place" since the time of the
first native Americans and, historically, as an important factor in the
development of industry in this country.
Coco says the Lenni Lenape often wed at the falls and held ceremonies
celebrating births. "It was their Garden of Eden," he says.
Following in the native Americans' steps, he says, "Dutch settlers also used
the grounds for weddings in the 1600s. In the next century, the British
built resort hotels near the falls, creating the first honey-moon capital in
the United States.
Coco's interest in history takes over as he tells the third part of the
Great Falls story and explains that it was the first planned industrial park
in the country.
Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson turned to
industrial sites in England to model a plan to develop industry around the
power of the falls. Coco says, "The mini-cascades spun the wheels that
powered factories." Kathryn Finegan Clark
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Paterson Great Falls - Passaic River Paterson, New Jersey
Full Moon - Winter -
December 1983 70”x40” oil on canvas -Four Months Before The One Hundred Year
Flood-
Bucks Countians have a rare opportunity this month
to view "The Paterson Falls," grand scale paintings by Riegelsville artist.
The Riegelsville Public Library is sponsoring an exhibit of Coco's series of
four oil paintings of the Great Falls on the Passaic River in New Jersey.
Coco, a Paterson native, now lives in Riegelsville and is internationally Known
as both an artist and musician.
The exhibit is particularly timely since the Great Falls are now the centerpiece
of the brand new Great Falls National Park.
The 77-foot high falls, second only to Niagara Falls in size on the East Coast,
has been a state park since 2004. President Obama bumped it up to national
status when he signed legislation March 25 designating it a part of the National
Park System, adding it to the likes of Valley Forge and Philadelphia's
Independence National Park.
Coco has more than 400 paintings, drawings and prints in 300 public and private
collections.
He has had 45 solo shows in America and Europe and has exhibit- ed in
competitive and collective shows since 1970. His work is in the collections of
the Museum of Modem Art in San Francisco, the Institute of Contemporary Art in
Boston and in museums and galleries in Lisbon, Rome and
Paris. Great Falls National Park - KFC
Paterson Great Falls - Passaic River Paterson, New Jersey Morning – Winter
February 1984 66”x40” oil on canvas -One Month Before The One Hundred Year
Flood-
If Walls Could Speak
The
following selection IS from If Walls Could Speak
are a series of 106 paintings are redefining the image of Sicily". Premiering in December of 1996 in five galleries of Teatro Vittorio Emanuele,
in Messina, Sicily. The work has been recently shown in
Coco's 2nd international exhibition in the Geraci Sicily, August 2006.
The series was shown for two years throughout 2005-06 at the Coccia Italian
Institute at Montclair State University in New Jersey. These narrative drawings reflect the influences of Sicily's rich
mythology. With all its robust chaos and eccentricities, Messina's fate
had its history erased through centuries of earthquakes and the bombardment of
WWII. But on the morning of December 28th, 1908 Messina, suffered it's
worst disaster. The city lost more than half of its population, 625,000,
killed by the
tremor and devastating tidal wave, that immediately followed. The series has been shown in the Paterson Museum, New Jersey and the Italian Embassy's
Institue of Italian Culture in San Francisco through out 1999. This show
has been proposed for as a major installation at the Ellis Island Statue
of Liberty Immigration Museum, for 2008. With 55 solo shows since 1972, over
425 works of Coco's are in over 275 public and private collections through out the
United States and Europe including San Francisco's MOMA, the Galleria
Nazionale Di Arte Contemporanea in Rome and the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon,
Portugal. The movies
picture trouble as red, white and green, but have you ever been to a place
where trouble has never been? The underworld is around your house, no
matter who's to blame, but that's a different thing, so let me be the first to
describe, "Spring in Sicily" C 1995 Coco Luminarios Music,BMI
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AfortE
(Strength) |
Look into
Sicilian faces and you will find the rich blood line's of historic epochs that
include the Greeks, Romas, Arabs, Normans, Spanish etc. It's history as the
crossroads of many civilizations has been a destiny that integrated diverse
societies. Multi-racial tolerance? Sicily has been an integrating point
for all cultures and races of the Mediterranean since the Phonecians.
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War in Iraq - 1st Day |
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The
First Full Moon of 2004 "Pallet
clock" |
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The
Last Full Moon of 2001 "Twin Towers Disaster" |
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The First Full Moon of
2002 "The Last Tree On Earth" |
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The
Last Full Moon of 2005 "Cactus
Flower" |
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biography ı discography ı paintings ı photos ı samples ı live ı mail |
