02 Oct 2019

Nancy Cohen: Force: Observations from the Interior

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts

Reviewed by Kate Dodd

"Force: Observations From the Interior" reveals a shifting boundary, between glass sculptures full of embedded mark-making and drawings constructed of and on handmade paper. This fluidity corresponds with Nancy Cohen's experiences of observing the many ways water meets land. Her handling of materials fittingly involves both surface and immersion.

Cohen's drawings convey vast depths beyond the delicately applied paper pulp networks that bob on her organic surfaces. Glimpses of brilliant orange push through muted lavender in Scrim (2019), while deep vermilion emerges from the details in Low Tide and Underside (both 2018). This sense of looking both at and through something occurs in Cohen's sculptures too, but with roles reversed: solid wire elements are held within transparent, slumped forms, tinged with surprise appearances of saturated color. Intercoastal (2019) provides a pleasure like beachcombing, finding something after it has disappeared and come back worn, yet new. These eloquent works evoke the tide-like nature of existence as an ever-changing state.