Pamela June Crook (born 1945), known professionally as P J Crook, is an English painter and sculptor. Her shows have appeared in London, France, the United States, Japan, Canada, and Estonia. Her professional name "P J Crook" lacks full stops; variant stylings such as "P. J. Crook" have appeared.
Crook was born in 1945 in Cheltenham, England, where she still lives.[1] She is represented by the Panter & Hall gallery on Pall Mall in London and Galerie Alain Blondel in Paris.
From a studio opposite her house, she manages compositions on a monumental scale — paintings can measure 2 × 4.5 metres and also paints small pictures, some no larger than 10 cm square. She works in tinted gesso, acrylic and sometimes in oil on canvas. She often paints crowds, either in motion in urban environments or standing still reading newspapers, many of which are on undulating 3D corrugated structures as with 'The Smell of the Horse, the Roar of the Crowd" (coll. Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum),"Other Mothers' Sons" (coll. Imperial War Museum, London) "Paper Hat" and "The Kiss" (coll. Morohashi Museum of Modern Art, Japan). These have led onto her three dimensional sculptures mainly constructed out of found objects.
In 1996, Crook co-starred with musician Toyah Willcox on the HTV short film Rolinda Sharples: Painted out of History. The production led to a friendship between the two, and later on to Wilcox's husband, King Crimson/ProjeKcts guitarist Robert Fripp.[2] Wilcox and Fripp own some of Crook's paintings, and the latter has used them as covers for his group's releases.
Crook is a Patron of the National Star College Cheltenham; a Patron of Linc; a Patron of Artshape; a sometime Trustee and director of ACS (the Artists' Collecting Society); Patron of Cheltenham Open Studios; a Gloucestershire Ambassador; President of the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum; member of the Royal West of England Academy; Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club and the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire. PJ Crook has an honorary Doctor of Arts from the University of Gloucestershire and is an honorary vice President of Gloucestershire College.
Crook was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to art.
PJ Crook's paintings are featured on the covers of many King Crimson albums. Many of these albums are produced by Discipline Global Mobile (DGM), the music company founded by Robert Fripp. Crook retains the copyrights and moral rights to her artwork.[3] [4] [5]
| Painting(s) | Album | Painting date | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Night Watch | 1996 | 1997 | ||
| Epitaph déjà VROOOM (booklet p. 7) | 1990-94 | 1997 1999 | ||
| Absent Lovers I [Nude] | déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 13–14) | 1998 | 1998 1999 | |
| Absent Lovers II [Empty Bed] | Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal | 1998 | 1998 | |
| Now and Then | déjà VROOOM (cover; booklet outer pages, pp. 1–6, 17, 18) | 1997-8 | 1999 | |
| déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 15–16) | ???? | 1999 | ||
| Saint Genesius | 1988 | 1999 | ||
| Piano Bar | Live at the Jazz Café (front cover) | 1998 | 1999 | |
| Live at the Jazz Café | ???? | 1999 | ||
| Masque | Masque | 1986 | 1999 | |
| Cirkus | 1993 | 1999 | ||
| Winter of Discontent | Heavy ConstruKction | 1993 | 2000 | |
| Level Five (front cover) The Power to Believe (outer back inlay) The Power to Believe Tour Box | 1993 | 2001 2003 | ||
| déjà VROOOM | Vrooom Vrooom (Live in Mexico City) déjà VROOOM (booklet pp. 11–12) | 1996 | 2001 1999 | |
| On Broadway | Vrooom Vrooom (on Broadway) Live in Argentina, 1994 | 1996 | 2001 2012 | |
| Ladies of the Road | ???? | 2002 | ||
| It Could be Us | Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With (front cover) | ???? | 2002 | |
| Waiting | Shoganai Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With (back cover) | 1986 | 2002 | |
| Fin de Siècle | Level Five (back cover; CD label) | 1999 | 2003 2001 | |
| (inner back inlay) Heaven & Earth (inner top lid) | ???? | 2003 | ||
| Eyes Wide Open | 1994 | 2003 | ||
| Fairground | Neal and Jack and Me | ???? | 2004 | |
| ???? | 2004 | |||
| March 30 | (inner cover) | 1993 | 2004 | |
| Harry's Bar | (disc 2) | 1985 | 2004 | |
| Sunday (Reading in Bed) | (disc 3) | ???? | 2004 | |
| ???? | 2004 | |||
| Good Morning, M. Balladur | (inner cover) | ???? | 2004 | |
| ???? | 2004 | |||
| Tuesday | (front cover) | 2002 | 2004 | |
| ???? | 2007 | |||
| ???? | 2007 | |||
| Expresso | 40th Anniversary Tour Box The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson – Volume One (disc 1) | 1997 | 2008 2004 | |
| Christian Children, Marching, Singing | ???? | 2011 | ||
| Nocturne | Heaven & Earth | 2012 | 2019 |
Book: Atton, Chris. 6 Fan culture and the Internet. An alternative Internet. 2004. Edinburgh University Press. 138–154. https://books.google.com/books?id=fZa_x8DEP_oC&dq=%22Discipline+Global+Mobile%22&pg=PA154. 978-0-7486-1770-8.