This article originally appeared in PureHoney Magazine. Check them out here.
Childhood memories often fade at the edges, their colors dimmed by time, yet the creative spark we’re born with endures. In Look What I Made, the debut solo exhibition of South Florida portrait artist Liv Cook, that spark flares back to life to remind us that creativity is as innate as breath.
Opening September 6 at Gasper Arts Center in Dania Beach, Cook’s exhibition transforms baby photos of herself and several fellow artists into bold, mixed-media collaborations — a tender, electric fusion of each subject’s earliest, original self and the layered identity shaped by the world.
Cook painted the faces based on the photos, then handed the works off to each artist to complete the background in their own vibrant style. The result is a visual conversation — innocence meeting experience, individuality blending with shared creative DNA.
“Children have the ability to express unfiltered creativity that has yet to be tainted by the external world,” Cook says. “Look What I Made offers artists the opportunity to be appreciated for just being artists, and recognizes that their physical work is just a translation of their internal raw expressions.”
Cook’s eleven collaborators include CHNK Fondue, a fixture in Miami’s street art scene; South Florida artist and curator Kelcie McQuaid; and multimedia artist Sarah E. Huang. Cook also painted her aunt, artist Cary Daly, as a baby. She is painting her own baby portrait as well, and the audience will be invited to draw on the background at the opening! Each returns to their beginnings with Cook as catalyst, underscoring the artistic passion that manifests in infancy even as the journey to nurture it is deeply individual.
Known for portraiture that challenges conventional beauty standards, Cook blends influences from historical painting to contemporary street art, often stepping into her own work through photography and makeup. Backed by a county Artist Support Grant, Look What I Made extends that ethos: Viewers might see themselves reflected in the tension between origin and evolution. Cook says the exhibition is also about “planting a seed” — encouraging creative intersections among artists (often solitary figures) and gesturing toward what can grow next.
Liv Cook’s Look What I Made runs through October 4 at Gasper Arts Center in Dania Beach. instagram.com/livcooked gasperarts.com
