Monica Cook paints beautiful and disturbing portraits of women. Her figures are brilliantly painted, with breathtaking skill; Cook excels in rendering the subtleties of the flesh and details of light, tone and surface. Painted with an eerie intensity, Cook's figures compel the viewer to study them, often surreptitiously, as there is a strong sense of invading an extremely private moment. We look, albeit sideways, with fascination at the beauty, humanity and complexity of these portraits. The recent work includes drawings in ink on mylar as well as the canvas oil paintings. Additional figures, male and female, have been introduced into the imagery of previously single female figures in a neutral field, resulting in intensely mysterious, rich and tantalizing tableaux.