This striking work is about the emotional and domestic chaos of a man discovering his lover is being unfaithful. It’s a story drawn from Jimmy Cooper’s own experience. The vivid colour, exaggerated expressions and sense of drama are like a comic book but, despite their stylised features, Cooper’s figures are intensely human. He has concentrated on the most expressive parts of the body, mouth, eyes and hands, to show hurt, anger and shock. Cooper was born in Westport. He made domestic pottery in the early 1980s but began experimenting with three-dimensional ceramic figures during his studies at Otago Polytechnic. In 1993 Cooper was the joint winner of the Scotwood Award at the Cleveland Ceramics Awards in the United States and he was a finalist in the XPO New Zealand Ceramics and Glass Awards in Auckland in 1996. His first major individual show was held at the Dowse Art Museum in 1997. Since then he has participated in group and solo exhibitions throughout New Zealand.