Based in New York, painter Cobi Moules creates work that engages with queer and transgender identity, relationships, pop culture and the complexities of family. Moules’s self-portraits, both realistic and imagined, express a signature style consisting of multiple copies of himself, often painted over 19th-century American landscapes. Moules chooses these locations intentionally for their connections to “America’s first true artistic fraternity” — the Hudson River School.
Moules was born in 1980 in Oakdale, California, and his early memories include painting on his grandmother’s porch, struggling with the process and his mistakes. Despite his frustration, Moules found himself returning to art again and again.
In 2004, Moules graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and in 2010, he received a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Moules was an artist-in-residence at six different organizations, earning fellowships from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2008 and the Joan Mitchell MFA Grant in 2010. After graduation, Moules earned the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship and the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant.
Two of his projects are named after modified lyrics from a famous Cyndi Lauper song: "Bois Just Want To Have Fun" and "That’s All They Really Want." They vibrantly examine the visual renegotiation of personal image.
Moules’s work has been exhibited widely across the United States, including at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Jepson Center in Georgia, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine and Smack Mellon in New York. The Leslie Lohman Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the RISD Museum and the 21c Museum have all acquired his work.
Moules’s work, which challenges the conventions of American art and its landscape painting traditions, continues to capture the attention of critics and collectors.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Cobi Moules paintings.
Untitled (Ausable River 1) - Contemporary figurative landscape oil painting
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Figurative hyperreal landscape oil painting, "(Untitled (Ausable River 1))," by Cobi Moules. Oil on canvas. 8 x 6 inches. Offered unframed. Driven by the desire for adventure and di...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Ausable River 2) - Contemporary figurative landscape oil painting
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Figurative hyperreal landscape oil painting, "(Untitled (Ausable River 2)," by Cobi Moules. Oil on canvas. 8 x 10 inches. Offered unframed. Driven by the desire for adventure and di...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Adirondacks) - Figurative landscape painting
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Landscape painting by Cobi Moules - Oil on canvas Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules embraces the beauty of nature all the while shifting its weight throu...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Salt Marsh Herring Cove)
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Landscape painting titled "Untitled (Salt Marsh Herring Cove)" by Cobi Moules - Oil on canvas Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules embraces the beauty of nature all the while shifting its weight through the exaltation of his own existence within, and as part, of it. This is best exemplified by the way he incorporates multiple self-portraits throughout his compositions. The multiplicity of self takes both precedence over, as well as integration into, the landscape creating a world with a sense of excitement, self-worth and play. The locations of Moules’ compositions are equally important. All of the locations were previously depicted in paintings by the Hudson River School. Through the exploration of the grand American landscape and the reflection on mid-19th century American...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Island in the Sky) - Figurative landscape oil painting
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Landscape oil painting, "(Island in the Sky)," by Cobi Moules Oil on canvas. 8 x 10 inches Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules embraces the beauty of natu...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Mountain view of Schroon Lake) - Figurative landscape oil painting
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Landscape oil painting, "(Mountain view of Schroon Lake)," by Cobi Moules - Oil on canvas Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules embraces the beauty of nature...
Canvas, Oil
Untitled (Ship Harbor)
By Cobi Moules
Located in East Quogue, NY
Winter landscape painting by Cobi Moules - Oil on canvas Exhibition History: "New England Now: People," Shelburne Museum, Vermont (June 26 - October 17, 2021) Driven by the desire for adventure and discovery, Cobi Moules embraces the beauty of nature all the while shifting its weight through the exaltation of his own existence within, and as part, of it. This is best exemplified by the way he incorporates multiple self-portraits throughout his compositions. The multiplicity of self takes both precedence over, as well as integration into, the landscape creating a world with a sense of excitement, self-worth and play. The locations of Moules’ compositions are equally important. All of the locations were previously depicted in paintings by the Hudson River School. Through the exploration of the grand American landscape and the reflection on mid-19th century American landscape painting, Moules navigates the parallels between the Hudson River School and the religious ideology that was an integral part of his formative years. Shared throughout both is the elevation of purity, virginity and the honor of sacrificing one’s selfhood for the glory of God. As the Hudson River School artists’ work embodies the overpowering force of God made manifest through nature, so do the religious voices of Moules’ past against the validation of his existence. Moules states, “As a queer and trans person, I seek to renegotiate my relationship with this upbringing and the act of being told I am ‘unnatural’ through such a Christian lens. I utilize traditional representation as a way of seeking inclusion while disrupting the original narrative. Creating a space for personal significance and a queer and trans presence, the importance becomes the experience of my multiple and overall presence. It is a community of me playing, exploring my selves, exploring nature and being part of it.” Landscape, nature, figurative painting, self portrait, portrait, seascape, coastline, seashore, Hudson River School, contemporary art, Ship Harbor...
Canvas, Oil
Above the Oxbow
By Danielle Winger
Located in Bozeman, MT
"In my paintings I take on the role of poet-painter, creating sentimental and idealized landscapes that are devoid of any figures or formal devices traditionally used to tell a story...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
$1,600
H 30 in W 30 in D 1 in
Let's Rally by Devan Sweeney, Oil on Canvas Tennis Vibrant Contemporary Painting
Located in Atlanta, GA
Energetic Tennis-Inspired Abstract by Devan Sweeney – "Let's Rally", 30" x 30", Acrylic on Canvas Let’s Rally is a bold and expressive tribute to the rhythm and spirit of tennis, cr...
Canvas, Oil
$1,195
H 13.5 in W 13.5 in D 2 in
Inner Light I by Sherrie Russ Levine, Square Landscape Painting
Located in Atlanta, GA
Sherrie Russ Levine, “Inner Light I,” Oil on Canvas, 12 x 12 in (Framed: 13.5 x 13.5 in) Inner Light I is a beautifully restrained abstract by Sherrie Russ Levine, rendered in oil o...
Canvas, Oil
$8,000
H 24 in W 30 in
Last Voyage of the Lady Elgin - Detailed Painting of an Historic Ship Disaster
By Eric Edward Esper
Located in Chicago, IL
Last Voyage of the Lady Elgin On Saturday, September 8, 1860 at 2:30 a.m., the sidewheel steamship was full of Milwaukee’s Union Guard and civilians returni...
Canvas, Oil
$3,788
H 28.75 in W 36.23 in D 1.97 in
Incoherence of compulsory ways #1 - Hélène Duclos, Contemporary figurative paint
By Hélène Duclos
Located in Paris, FR
Oil on canvas Signed lower right Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – What is it to be a living being? Who / what can we believe? Who / what can we trust? How real is our view of the world? And how is that perspective angled, and ultimately limited? These are the issues at the heart of my work as an artist. Painting, drawing, engraving and embroidery give me the freedom to approach my subjects from an ambivalent and flexible standpoint. I am building up a dynamic body of work, like pieces that you can put together in one way or another to shape different structures, pierced with numerous openings. And the title that I give each piece acts as a possible clue as to how to enter inside that system. I can portray both softness and monstrosities. I focus on the links and barriers lying between living beings and their surroundings, and evoke how permeable these connections are. My aim is not to create a visual documentary reporting fact, but rather immerse myself in observing everyday life, and in a host of images depicting real events (pictures, photos and videos). Instilled with these images, I can give a more personalized, unique and allegorical vision of the world around me. I am also interested in the key transition periods of human existence, those turning points that forge our identity within a family, a group, and society as a whole at the heart of a specific environment. I centre on what makes up and creates cohesion (rituals, myths and tales….), and indeed the opposite - what leads to life becoming shattered, hindered and frustrated (moving populations, exile and migration…) Amidst a landscape roaming with wild beasts and hybrid creatures, between love and separation, metaphors for our own desires and fears lie in hiding, or reveal themselves in the painted or embroidered spaces. Sometimes they are etched with lines, symbols and tiny architectural designs. These works might depict our inner landscapes, as if harking back to a primordial and cosmic point of origin. My most recent collections recreate the images of bodies or landscapes using abstract zones and figurative details that have no direct link with either anatomy or geography. Intimacy and the unspeakable are themes that run throughout my work, and I make sure to incorporate areas of both visual tension and relief, so as to give the viewer the space to project him or herself into the work. And here, such paradoxes can only be reached through the interplay between abstraction and figuration.” 2 / Thierry Delcourt Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and author of works on the process of artistic creation, and the conditions of existential and social creativity : "Entering into the world of Hélène Duclos in her drawings, paintings, embroidery and words means letting yourself be carried away by a torrent towards strange shores of creation where only a few artists have ever dared to venture. As if perched on a watchtower on the threshold of different worlds, Hélène Duclos throws us out of our depth, plunging us into spaces filled with destitute mankind, and guiding us through her stem-like maze of a scheme, bristling with roots and clues. But the mystery here, like a poetic, human rebus that never ends, only compels us to take a closer look.” 3 / Hélène Duclos ‘s biography : After graduating from the Duperré School of Applied Arts in Paris with a degree in textile design, I set off on a six-month sea voyage from Vannes in Brittany, to Dakar. On returning to France, I set up my atelier...
Canvas, Oil
$4,400
H 36 in W 36 in D 2 in
Dusk Air by Sherrie Russ Levine, Square Landscape Painting
Located in Atlanta, GA
Sherrie Russ Levine, “Dusk Air,” Oil on Canvas, 36 x 36 in With its soft palette and atmospheric layering, Dusk Air by Sherrie Russ Levine captures the ephemeral beauty of twilight....
Canvas, Oil
$4,144
H 28.75 in W 36.23 in D 1.97 in
Selective memory #3 - Hélène Duclos, 21st Century, Contemporary painting
By Hélène Duclos
Located in Paris, FR
Oil on canvas Signed Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – What is it to be a living being? Who /...
Canvas, Oil
$262
H 5.91 in W 5.91 in D 1.58 in
Eleanor Woolley, Winter Shadows 11, Affordable Art, Contemporary Art
By Eleanor Woolley
Located in Deddington, GB
Eleanor Woolley Winter Shadows 11 Original Landscape Painting Oil Paint on Canvas Canvas Size: H 15cm x W 15cm x D 4cm Sold Unframed Ready to Hang Please note that insitu images are ...
Canvas, Oil
$262
H 5.91 in W 5.91 in
Eleanor Woolley, Winter Shadows 15, Affordable Art, Contemporary Art
By Eleanor Woolley
Located in Deddington, GB
Original Landscapes and seascapes Oil Paint on Canvas Image size: H:15 cm x W:15 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:15 cm x W:15 cm x D:4cm Frame Size: H: cm x W: cm x D:cm Sold Fr...
Canvas, Oil
$4,000
H 30 in W 24 in
Night Garden, Full Moon Illuminating a Gardener, Original Oil, Framed
By John Hrehov
Located in Chicago, IL
A full moon illuminates the landscape just enough to allow this gardener to tend his night shade plants in this illustrative painting by John Hrehov. Fireflies dot the scene adding to the playfulness of the tableau. This piece is floated in a white wooden frame measuring 32h x 26w x 2d inches. John Hrehov Night Garden oil on canvas 30h x 24w in 76.20h x 60.96w cm JHR023 John Hrehov Education 1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Solo Exhibitions 2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN. 2012 Shades from White to Black, New Drawings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2011 John Hrehov: Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. 2009 John Hrehov: A Survey 1999-2009 Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. Paintings and Drawings. Seerveld Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL. 2004 John Hrehov: Drawings and Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2002 Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2001 Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street...
Oil, Canvas
$5,801
H 51.19 in W 38.19 in D 1.97 in
Cosmic pulse III- Hélène Duclos, 21st Century, Contemporary figurative painting
By Hélène Duclos
Located in Paris, FR
Oil on canvas Signed Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – What is it to be a living being? Who /...
Canvas, Oil
$2,960
H 21.66 in W 18.12 in D 1.97 in
Orientation perspectives #1 Hélène Duclos, 21st Century Contemporary figurative
By Hélène Duclos
Located in Paris, FR
Oil on canvas Signed Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – What is i...
Canvas, Oil