Scott Cooper

 

About Me

Born in Houston and transplanted to Brooklyn by parental fiat, Cooper grew up in Brighton Beach. You might know the neighborhood it was featured in the 80 flik The Warriors. The transition from the open playgrounds of Houston apartments in the late 60 to the narrow streets and 10 x 10 front yards of Brighton Beach directed the kids energy into drawing instead of tree-climbing. As the neighborhood changed from being a quiet haven for Orthodox Jews with a synagogue on each side of his parents apartment and an even larger temple behind, to a raucous Puerto Rican/Black neighborhood, Cooper was exposed to a series of extremes creating an ambition to draw that won him a place in the highly competitive art magnet schools of New York City. Riding one of the famous cheese buses to Mark Twain Junior High for the Gifted and Talented and taking another cheese bus from the Coney Island stop to get to the famous High School of Art & Design, Cooper ran from his home through three different gang territories morning and night. Learning to give and take a beating Cooper managed to survive being the only long haired, punk rock-loving Jewish boy in his neighborhood and earned the respect of his peers with his graffiti art as a member of DWB tagging NY Subway cars parked in the repair yard. Cooper earned a spot in the prestigious School of Visual Arts majoring in Animation, Cartooning, and Illustration. After graduating Cooper moved to Los Angeles for a job with Filmation just in time for them to go down in flames. Cooper then turned his talent towards learning two new media: the Apple computer and his heart (Sara). Fifteen years into the graphic design field Cooper worked on ad campaigns for everything from major motion pictures to album covers for alternative underground musicians. Taking a break from the computer, Cooper picked up a new medium: the tattoo machine. After a four year apprenticeship, Cooper moved to San Antonio, TX, where he took up teaching computer graphic design at a local college. Cooper still teaches at the college, and is working on his MFA at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Cooper is still learning about his heart Sara.