A pillar of finding new frontiers, American artist Ron Cooper exemplifies what it means to go beyond that which is expected. TFAF is honored to unveil this important contemporary creator as our 2026 Poster Artist Award.

Born in New York in 1943, Ron Cooper grew up in Ojai, California, before attending the famed Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1963 to ‘65, where his life-long friendships with Larry Bell, Ken Price and Ed Ruscha among others were formed.

Cooper is a direct product of the Zeitgeist of the 1960’s that forever changed the way we look at art and the world. His work evolved out of Southern California’s “Light and Space” and “Finish Fetish” movements of the mid-1960s and he is recognized as a pivotal artist of that moment with his Light Traps and Vertical Bars. His resurrection of these early forms four decades later continues to earn him critical acclaim and assures him his place in the annals of Art History.

In Taos, where he has lived since the early 70’s, joining the exodus from Venice Beach that included Bell, Price and Dennis Hopper, Ron Cooper has continued to push the boundaries of art to include Del Maguey, the line of mezcal he’s been producing in Oaxaca for the past twenty years. Cooper has perhaps single handedly revived the ancient art of mescal distillation with his involvement in the production of mezcal in several Zapotec villages. Mezcal, in turn, with its mythic history, has captured the imaginations of the culinary and liquor industries internationally, and for the fourth year in a row, Cooper’s Del Maguey has been nominated for the esteemed James Beard Award.

On art, Cooper says:
“The criteria for me for successful art is that it transforms your experience in some way. It’s got to have that ‘A-ha’ moment, if it does, then it’s a successful piece of art,” he explains.

Joins us this year from September 18 – October 4 to see the breadth of this artist’s creations.