Adam Cohen

Breaking the Surface - bright, airy, abstract expressionist, acrylic on canvas

2018

Adam Cohen is a New York based abstract artist whose work combines color and texture to endow the canvas with dream-like intensity; with lush, intricate layers of pigment, he creates paintings alive with gestural energy. Born in the United States in 1959, Cohen started painting at the age of 12, studying with Lilian Marzell, a respected teacher, artist and friend of Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and other key figures of the Abstract Expressionist generation, who later became a huge influence on Cohen’s work. He went on to study at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, which included a year living and painting in Rome. Upon graduation, Cohen moved to New York City, where he studied at the School of Visual Arts while taking classes at the Art Students League and Parsons School of Design. Ahead of his time, he was one of the first artists to use computers and Photoshop in a creative context, which helped launch his career as a top illustrator, working for the likes of Disney, Coca Cola, Visa and the New York Times, amongst many others. After a 10-year break, Cohen returned to painting and moved from New York City to the Catskills, specializing in figurative work, which ultimatley led to his discovery and love of abstract painting. In 2012 Adam started applying pigment in wide, vigorous strokes, creating intricate colorful abstract tapestries with sharp contrasts of black and white. The textures of his paintings have changed over the years as black has almost disappeared. He now cuts the still-wet paint with a palette knife and other instruments to create intricate, almost vascular patterns. The results of these developments are paradoxical, for Cohen’s imagery is now more vibrantly physical than ever and, at the same time, more richly atmospheric. Now firmly established as an abstract painter, Cohen has exhibited extensively in the US, Europe and Asia, most recently at the Morren Gallery in Amsterdam and the Galleria Ravagnon in Venice.