As One Door Closes, Another Opens by William Cooke is a progressive shift towards a positive future, encouraging the public forward through colour and geometry.
This energetic new public artwork has been painted across two opposing walls of The National Building at 250 Pitt St. Sydney.
As One Door Closes, Another Opens draws on the simplest of utilitarian objects – the common door. Not just any door though, this opening draws on the progressive designs of modernist architect Jean Prouve (France, 1901-1984).
Prouve designed a suite of demountable buildings in 1944 to combat the shortage of immigrant housing post-WWII in France. The cornerstone of each structure was a tall, open, aluminium door that allowed light and air to pass through freely. In this instance, function followed form completely.
The artist chose the door as he feels a symbol rich in positivity is needed now, more than ever. The idea is that each trapezium cascades towards the next, from building to building, in perpetuity. Like a door opening and closing, geometry draws the public out from the cold and into the warmth that safety and shelter provides.
A multidisciplinary artist, Cooke is based in Sydney but has shown both nationally and internationally. His work operates between the modes of abstraction and design to breach the relationship between form, surface, and the viewer. Cooke creates artworks that utilise geometry to link abstract ideas with the concrete through aluminium, spray paint, projection and sculpture. Cooke’s work is held in collections both nationally and internationally.
Text by Dani Pearce
June 2021
