an object inspires her. As in the artist’s view of her own
paintings, which lean in overlapping stacks against the walls,
nothing is ever too precious. Despite her clear appreciation
for these pricy collectibles’ heritage, she has a surprisingly
casual relationship with the pieces she has amassed at far-off
flea markets and carefully transported home. As she offers
her nickel tour, she picks up an 18th-century bishop’s staff
and hands it over to touch. And according to Burr, Cosgrove
rearranges the various vignettes almost daily.
“This stuff is part and parcel of what she uses as inspiration for her painting, and she paints every day,” he says.
“She takes the Old Master style of painting and makes it
contemporary and often surreal. So the culture and the
history of these objects are part of her work, but so are the
ever-changing compositions.”
It was a stint in Mexico City in the early 1990s that had
the greatest impact on Cosgrove’s aesthetic. They couple lived
there with their young daughter, Olivia, while Burr worked
as a landscape architect on a large-scale project. The family
shared an apartment near the Zona Rosa, which at the time
held a seedy mix of sex shops and antique stores. At the same
time, she began painting in the daylight (during Olivia’s nap
time) rather than late at night, discovering a new ability to
use the brush to create delicate, realistic lines and patterns.
“It was like the sweet mystery of life revealed. I could
finally paint like I’d always wanted to,” Cosgrove says. “We
were in Mexico, traveling to dusty little towns where the
most beautiful places were the cathedrals and the govern-
ment buildings and I started collecting things that inspired
me — santos and retablos. Those themes, which happen to
be religious, carried over when we started traveling to Latin
America and Europe.”
It was 2000 when Cosgrove and her family moved to
Marin and settled into this gracious 1905 house. Though
it was already fully renovated, they updated it little by little
over the years, swapping out large windows for French doors
throughout and adding patios and decks to connect the main
home to Cosgrove’s small painting studio. But the greatest
addition has been the ever-changing display of extraordinary
crumbling objects that exists amid an ordinary life filled
with family photos, a table set for dinner, a proud display
of a child’s sculpture. Add to that Cosgrove’s own intense
paintings, and it’s the sublime combination of mysterious
darkness and pure light. n
Top left: While some of Cosgrove’s pieces are beautifully worn, the 18th-century Spanish vargueno in the
dining room appears in top condition. Bottom left:
Venetian glassware collected over many trips to Italy
is grouped in and above a vitrine in the dining room.
Opposite: Though the overall effect is European, this
sunroom vignette shows off a pre-Columbian figurative
terra-cotta vessel along with many works collected
from Cosgrove and Burr’s travels to Latin America.
