About, and an Art Talk on Color
Yvette Cohen approaches two-dimensional work sculpturally. She creates boldly colored painting-sculptures that mount flat against the wall, extending perception beyond their physical boundaries. She lives and works in New York City.
Born in Egypt and raised in Paris and Montreal, Cohen received a BFA from Concordia University, where she studied with Guido Molinari. After moving to New York, she continued studying at the Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program seminars, and worked in lithography at the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.
Her work has been exhibited at Kentler International Drawing Space, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Frosch & Co, Ki Smith Gallery, and Odetta Gallery. She has created site-specific installations for Cassina and Basta Pasta in New York and attended a residency at the Nantucket Artist Association.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I draw and paint, but I think sculpturally. Each piece is positioned in conversation with the space around it. Using color and geometric form, I transform flat surfaces into spatial experiences where shapes shift, stretch, and exceed their physical boundaries.
My work is grounded in Minimalism—its simplicity, honesty, and emphasis on process and structure. Working with acrylic or oil on canvas, often incorporating shaped supports and wooden dowels, I explore contradictions: flatness and volume, balance and disruption, precision and unpredictability, clarity and ambiguity. While each piece is carefully structured, I leave room for discovery within the process.
My work is an ongoing investigation of spatial language: how color and form can both construct and destabilize space. By altering geometry and shifting perception, the work questions how space is experienced and understood. Moving forward, I aim to deepen the relationship between object, viewer, and space.
ATOA's 63rd Open Studio Three Woman Artists on Color featured Yvette Cohen. Organized by Monroe Hodder and moderated by Barry Kostrinsky. 6/28/2021