by Beryl Cook
Cook, 58, is a British artist who sees the world through a curious prism that makes her subjects appear plump and jolly. Her paintings look a bit like those of some naive genius and something like cartoons—but they are better and sweeter than that. Her latest book is made up of her impressions of New York, its citizens cavorting in paintings reproduced in color opposite some sharp commentary. Many of the pictures have to do with food. During breakfast at the Royalton Hotel, "The waitress chewed gum and called me honey, just as I'd seen on the films, and the breakfasts were delicious." Cook has a chocolate brownie in the Museum of Modern Art and take-out sausages, biscuits and gravy from Bojangles. In Grand Central Terminal she has oysters. She also sees joggers and sunbathers in Central Park and fills her hotel bathroom shower with voluptuous nudes. Never has New York looked more colorful and well fed. Even Cook's squirrels and pigeons are fat. If New Yorkers want to see themselves as they appear to one unjaundiced outsider, hers is a cheering vision. (Knopf, $13.95)
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