In her new exhibition at Hverfisgallerí titled The Space Between Jeanine Cohen presents two new series, Diagonal and Angles, depicting geometrical structures where she continues her exploration of the basic elements of color, structure, space, and time. The idea of her work has a reference to a frame without using a canvas. The artworks themselves can be seen as an architecture of light and color, as a three dimensional structure that opens its borders. For Cohen painting is a field of research and experimentation around three parameters: The application of paint, the relationship between color and light and the delimitation of the pictorial surface.
The absence of canvas, the three-dimensionality of the wooden structures as emphasised by their distance from the wall, the size of the pieces leads the viewer to question their status as paintings. However, Jeanine Cohen considers herself a painter and her use of color and its relationship with light speak of the profoundly pictorial nature of her work. By painting the back of the modules that comprise her works, she allows the, always discreet, chromatic complexity of her works to gradually emerge, according to the wavelength, the ray of light and the conditions of the space that hosts it. It is in this space-time continuum between the artwork and the viewer that Jeanine Cohen’s work reveals itself or in the space between.
In the series Diagonal the works involve layered and overlapping planes that are decided intuitively by experiment. The planes cross each other at different levels, and are supported by a rectangular frame in green and red colors that remind the artist of Iceland. In the series Angles the attention is focused on the vacuum space surrounded by a structure formed by two black angles. Both the artworks and the wall need each other to complete the construct and the result is a sort of architecture of color, light and projected shadows – art that requires a prolonged look as the spatial displacement of the spectator proposes a different perception than the frontal view. In resemblance to icons equipped with supernatural powers, Jeanine Cohen’s paintings shine with their own light, which comes from within its interior. Color is not seen directly, but as a reflection on the wall.
Jeanine Cohen (1951) was born in 1951 in Brussels, Belgium. She studied at La Cambre School of Visual Art (ENSAV) in Brussels, where she still lives and works. In the beginning Jeanine Cohen worked with canvas and acrylic painting but since 2000 she has been experimenting with diverse materials like polyester, polypropylene and wooden structures instead of canvas. Fluorescent, vibrant colors that appears as a source of light are always part of her work. Jeanine Cohen’s works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Portugal, Iceland, Belgium, Germany, France and Poland in solo exhibitions as well as group exhibitions. Her work also consists of site-specific projects for corporate and private institutions. Jeanine Cohen’s works are part of private, public and corporate collections in many countries.