Mads Cooke works as a universal artist, adept in a range of different practices. After studying Visual Communication Design at Monash Art Architecture & Design, and completing her bachelor degree at the University of South Australia where she specialised in Illustration, Mads has since practiced as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator.
Mads has always enjoyed incorporating hand-drawn illustrations into her design work, giving her a raw, organic edge that she identifies strongly with – balanced well with her clean minimalist designs. As she progressed through her design work she felt a longing to illustrate more by hand, leading her to paint/ draw again, creating the artworks that she produces today. This form of practice for her is very meditative and calming, and is what she creates a sense of for the viewer too.
Raised in the Adelaide Hills, Mads is well acquainted with the natural environment, she identifies the natural world as a calming/ soothing atmosphere for her as it reminds her of her home and childhood memories. Mads’s work is predominately inspired by the flora, but she also explores the textures and patterns that are formed in the natural environment – drawing upon the unique, free-forming landscape. Her work is composed of organic shapes and forms, repeating lines creating soft shapes, natural colour tones and depths of foliage – to create her sense of calm.
