This blog is about a mystery that finally has come to a resolution for me just a few weeks ago.

I received an invitation by Yukiko Onley for an opening at her VisualSpace Gallery that is a retrospective of artist Elsbeth Coop. The invitation instantly took me back to the Diane Farris Gallery sometime around 2001.

Many local photographers (including this one) were interested in an opening there that featured American celebrity photographer Greg Gorman. In particular we wanted to see a large nude photograph of Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen.

Diane Farris had prepared a surprise. She did not give Gorman a one-man-show. Gorman had to share space with a Victoria artist (unknown to me) who painted realistic female nudes placed in close quarters like corners, boxes, etc. I was so drawn to these paintings that I rapidly lost interest in Gorman’s works.

I was told that Coop also worked with the Victoria Police Department helping them with murder investigations through her ability to correctly show human anatomy.

And then Coop disappeared from the art scene. Every once in a while I would become curious and I would search the internet. But my searches took me nowhere.

In Vancouver I am an admirer of the output of Neil Wedman, Tiko Kerr,   Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun  , and Angela Grossman. They are not part (in my view) of that difficult-to-understand Vancouver conceptual art scene. Not that I don’t understand Rodney Graham’s humour. I do!

While I am not an art critic, I have seen enough art in my 77 years to consider Coop a phenomenal artist whose day in the spotlight has arrived. Kudos to her sister Jane for pushing her to exhibit. And Kudos, too for Onley for exhibiting her.

Brigitte Nielsen & Mark Gastineau

With Murray Pezim