Rebecca Cohen

For years, I’ve made collages in response to current events to obviate my sense of powerlessness and to offer a visual salve for like-minded consumers of the daily news. I’ve also turned for inspiration to the complexities surrounding my relationships with select family members and friends by physically creating double exposures, layering photographs printed on translucent fabric over (or under) photographic portraits. I do this for contrapuntal impact and emotional and visual depth, hinting at the true nature of my subjects while also offering them a protective veil. These photographs are blanketed between layers of encaustic, which creates a seductive physical surface that is painterly in appearance. Like my collages, these portraits are sometimes narrative, but never literal, leaving room for the viewer to find his or her own meaning. I am also exploring the medium of printmaking, creating similarly layered, complex images with photopolymer intaglio and chine collé. While my recent work is my most personal to date, the layered feelings that underlie these images are universal and meant to serve as open invitations, encouraging viewers to superimpose personal narratives and to establish a bond with my images that is inherently complicated and yet endlessly fruitful. Art that I love engages me in a private conversation, tells me its story and changes the way I perceive the world. I hope my work similarly influences viewers' perceptions of life.

After graduating from Philadelphia’s Moore College of Art, I raised a family, volunteered within the Austin, Texas arts community (including as president of the Laguna Gloria Art Museum board), and founded and ran Willingheart Gallery, which focused on the “perceived distinctions between art, craft, and design.” Willingheart subsequently was renamed RSLevy Gallery and exhibited non-functional objects, as well as paintings and sculpture. After closing the gallery, I began writing about art for publication, including the book ART GUIDE TEXAS, published by the University of Texas Press. While finding my “voice” as a studio artist relatively late in life has had its drawbacks, it has also emboldened my process. I am constantly exploring new materials and methodologies. Nine years ago, I left the comfort of the Austin arts community where I had exhibited both in my studio and at a local gallery, and moved to Placitas, New Mexico. I have been selected several times for the Albuquerque Museum’s Miniatures and More/Arts Thrive exhibition; will be participating for the eighth year in the Placitas Studio Tour; have exhibited in the Moore College of Art Alumnae Exhibition; and have had several of my works purchased through New Mexico’s Art in Public Places program.

2-D, Assemblage, Collage/Mixed Media, Photography, Printmaking/Lithography