Painter, poet and teacher, born in North Yorkshire. He attended Exeter College of Art & Design, 1978–81, gaining the Gladys Hunkin Poetry Prize, then obtained master’s degree in painting, Royal College of Art, 1983–6. Also studied at Rietveld Akademie, Amsterdam, 1985; gained an Italian Scholarship, 1986; and in 1987–8 attended Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna. Won a number of prizes, including first prize at Camden Annual, 1984, with a prize at John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, 1999. Cook was fellow in painting at Exeter College of Art, 1989; guest artist, Stadelschule Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, 1991, the year he was head of painting, Exeter Faculty of Art, University of Plymouth, 1991; visiting artist, Akademie van beeldende Kunsten, Rotterdam, Holland, 1992; visiting fellow at Oxford University, 1993; and reader in painting at University of Plymouth from 1997.