Bio:

Rachel Gisela Cohen is an artist, educator, and independent curator based in NYC. She has shown her work nationally and internationally, exhibiting most recently at Spring Break Art Show, Satellite Art Fair in Miami, Armenia Art Fair, Pierogi Gallery’s The Boiler, The Yard, Bryant Park Foundation, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, and Hunter College Art Galleries. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Revolt Gallery in Taos New Mexico, COPE NYC, and the Montclair Art Museum. She received her M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute and a B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts from Drew University. She currently serves as a Senior Artist Educator Emeritus for the Museum of Arts and Design in and Coordinator of Artist Residency Programs at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Artist Statement:

I am a multidisciplinary artist working in the realms of painting, fiber arts, ceramics, and installation. My primary medium involves the creation of densely layered mixed media paintings consisting of paint and recycled and collected textiles, which I cut, layer and stretch over shaped canvas. My works reflect an intricate interplay of beauty, surface, and the excesses of contemporary and material culture. Oscillating between concealing and revealing, they invite viewers to explore the nuanced tensions found within the work. Central to my practice is a deep material investigation, focusing on the competition between paint and fabric. I begin by carving the shaped canvas, employing a type of automatic drawing, utilizing the blade of my bandsaw. This initial structural foundation sets the stage for the next subsequent steps. I then dye or paint canvas, and stretch it over the hand carved form. Once an underpainting is established I begin to layer recycled textiles, paint and various fabrics over top, crafting an underpainting that serves as the foundation for the next layers to evolve from. I manipulate these textiles, creating illusionistic layers, until the surface reaches a saturation point and the work finds its final form. The shapes of my canvases are abstract, but seemingly may reference familiar external and internal forms, such as the outline of a mountain range or the unevenness of skin hanging from your thigh.

Website: www.rachelcohenstudio.com | @rachelcohenstudio

Course: Ceramics | FIC-2409-A

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