Jack Cocker “New Paintings” at Michael Gibson Gallery

Reviewed by Beth Stewart

(Jack Cocker, “Wanakita Cabin Scene (Evening),” oil on linen, 80 by 118 inches. Courtesy of Michael Gibson Gallery.)

Jack Cocker is enjoying his third solo exhibition with Michael Gibson Gallery while still in his mid-20s. That’s almost unheard-of success in the hardscrabble business of fine art.

It is a risky undertaking for an established gallery to take on such a young artist and a move that Michael Gibson admits he wouldn’t normally make, as such an artist’s story is “still being written.”

Cocker first approached Michael Gibson when the former was still in his third year at Western. He was studying under associate professor Sky Glabush.

Gibson visited Cocker at Western and then at the artist’s Mount Elgin Studio. He was impressed by Cocker’s ability to build colour and immediately recognized him as a gifted painter.

All of the works in the show were painted over the last year. All are firmly rooted in what Cocker describes as “familiarity, memory and connection.” They include views from his Mount Elgin studio, ski scenes, and figures representing Cocker or persons close to him.

For this show, the main gallery holds four massive pieces and five smaller ones. One of the large pieces is the oil on linen “Wanakita Cabin Scene (Evening)” which measures 80 by 118 inches. It hangs on the left wall of the gallery and features two of Cocker’s oft-repeated figures, his sister and his girlfriend. The piece is decidedly orange in all its glory and exudes the warm glow of a fading day.

(Jack Cocker, “Night Skiing,” oil on linen, 2025, 93.5 by 70 inches. Courtesy of the gallery.)

A more modestly sized 26-by-21-inch oil and distemper on linen, titled “Girl Near Water, 2024-2025”, with a single figure graces the back wall. On the same wall is “Night Skiing,” oil on linen, measuring 93.5 by 70 inches. It was painted when Cocker was learning to ski and features three beige figures on black snow.

(Jack Cocker, “Girl Near Water 2025”, oil on linen, 78 by 108 inches. Courtesy of the gallery.)

The middle gallery holds one large piece on the right wall, “Girl Near Water 2025”, oil on linen, 78 by 108 inches, with two figures and another 10 smaller pieces scattered throughout.

While Cocker’s works always include a figure and a landscape, they leave a lot to the imagination.

The artist explains, if a figure is too specific, it causes a painting to become “too much about the identity or the quality of the figure”, which, in turn, impedes a viewer’s ability to reflect. Cocker says, “While the paintings always contain elements of personal storytelling … I don’t [want them] to hinge on the autobiographical.”

Thus, the ambiguity of his figures serves to heighten a viewer’s “feeling of immersion in the scenes.” Cocker says that he hopes his paintings “feel like worlds you could walk into.”

(Pictured: Jack Cocker, Website)

Jack Cocker (born 2001) has a BFA from Western University (2023) and is currently in his first year of his MFA at the Emily Carr School of Art and Design in Vancouver.

Jack Cocker “New Paintings” continues to November 29, 2025, at Michael Gibson Gallery, 157 Carling Street, London.

For more information about the exhibition and the artist, visit https://www.gibsongallery.com/