Samm Cohen

She sees paintings, photographs, and jewelry as essential expressions of her art, and although she doesn’t claim to prefer any one medium, she eventually admits, “painting is by far the closest to me.” The immediate accessibility of painting appeals to her, while both photography and jewelry involve less instantaneous production methods. Cohen likes that she can touch a painting with her hands and have that tactile experience with the canvas and the paint, or even just savor the sense of holding a brush in her hands. Jewelry requires tools to make, and a completed piece almost always involves collaboration with other skilled artisans. As a result, the results aren’t nearly as immediate by comparison with other forms of expression. Nonetheless, she likes the distance photography can offer: “I have to breathe and walk away a little to take it in.”

When asked what inspires or influences her, she is slightly evasive for the first time: “Inspiration isn’t something intentional.” When pushed, she notes that she favors the work of German Expressionists these days. It seems as timely an influence as one can have these days, given the artistic seed that the movement blossomed around, described by critic Hilton Kramer as, “Weltschmerz (romantic pessimism) in response to the upheavals of war and revolution.” Cohen’s other influences include Klimt, Munch and El Greco. Emotion is a critical element of her work and she admires it in theirs. She acknowledges the fact that she is constantly looking to push emotional boundaries in her work, noting that, “In some of my paintings, I use reflective surfaces too. I use them because I’m attracted to them, of course, but I think if I break this down to a unconscious cognitive level, I can say that I would like the viewer not to experience the piece as an outsider, but to be part of it, including themselves in the reflection and feeling the emotion.”

As is the case with most creative souls, the conflict between making art and surviving in a capitalist society is very real to her. A native New Yorker, whose years of soul-searching took her to London, Paris, Israel, Mexico City, and back again, Cohen has now dedicated herself to the study of art therapy. Already an experienced teaching artist, she is close to completing her studies to become a practitioner in the field.

Raised in Queens, Cohen attended the prestigious LaGuardia High School of The Arts, which is indeed famous for having served as the inspiration for the movie Fame. It was very competitive, but she felt the emphasis was on aesthetic considerations rather than career aspirations and when she graduated she felt directionless. She had already been to art school, after all, and she still didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life.

She decided to be pragmatic and pursue a degree in advertising at Syracuse University. Although she felt parental and societal pressure to do something practical with her life, she never turned her back on her art. She found it impossible to ignore her inner need for creative expression. Sooner or later she had to pick up a brush again. A brief stint in photography school seemed like a chance to marry art and commerce, but it was a rocky union. At one point, Cohen traveled for the better part of a year, and upon her eventual return to New York she had a moment of awakening: for the first time in her life, she gave herself permission to define herself first and foremost as an artist. She put together a photography portfolio and pursued commercial work. She started going to galleries, but became disillusioned with the insular nature of the New York art scene.

Cohen has shown her work in several group shows at the cooperative, artist-run Ward-Nasse Gallery in SoHo, and likes the concept of working with nonprofit, community-oriented alternative spaces although she is not averse to working with anyone in the commercial art scene, either, despite a few frustrating experiences thus far. According to Biliana Videnova, curator for the gallery’s recent exhibition, “The Eye of The Camera,” which featured some of the mixed-media digital art Cohen has been exploring recently, “She has a very distinctive style: it’s expressionistic, and she is very unique and versatile in how she works. She combines photographic media with text and manipulates it digitally. She has also created images with a broken mirror, in which she painted on the pieces.” Says Videnova, “She is using different mediums and techniques to create something exciting.”

Recently, commercial galleries have begun seeking Cohen out, finally. Her next show opens January 12th, and runs through February 7th, at A Taste of Art, “the first gourmet art gallery in Tribeca,” founded by art collector and curator Laurence Asseraf. A joint exhibition with artist Pamela Thompson, Cohen has half a dozen photographs in the show, entitled “Altered Images.”

Says Cohen, “My work is all about emotions, both the process and the product. I could cleverly describe things or intuitively analyze them, but really I do them because I feel compelled, usually in times of emotional stress or pensive weightyness, to create. I think creation is the most magical wonderful thing I know. And I could go on about it, but really, I create because I can not not create: It comes pouring out of me.” It seems fitting then, that, as an artist, it’s Samm Cohen’s turn now to come into her own.

See Samm Cohen’s work in an eclectic small works show:

"Free Fall"
11/4/2005 to 12/30/2005

Bottom feeders Studio Gallery
195 Chrystie St., Rm. 203-A, NYC, 10009
Ph:917- 974 -9664

Fridays, from 1 to 5 p.m.
More info:
jah48@mindspring.com
http://home.mindspring.com/~jah48/

On The Web | www.sammcohen.com

Lauren Cerand is a writer based in New York.