Work of Six Decades brings together an exceptional body of work from the 1950s to the -present-day-to cetebrate Bernard Cohen's enduring career inthe arts. Matthew Flowers discusses;
'What makes Bernard Cohen special? Throughout my thirty years in the art world, I have found that most artists search for a formula, find it, stick to it - and make their reputation based on it. Yet Bernard develops his visual language in every work he takes on. He has no interest in pleasing an audience that has become familiar with his recent body of work. This is not a restlessness or pig-headedness. It's a determination to dig deeper and deeper. The results can be compared to a great composer with an array of sonatas, quartets, concertos and symphonies.'
Renowned for his striking abstract paintings, which comprise tensely wrought and unpredictably complex colour fields, Bernard Cohen came to prominence during the 1960s. He has since exhibited regularly both in London and internationally and his work is included in many important collections and galleries world-wide including the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Tate Gallery, London, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, and National Gallery of Canada.
Cohen is currently exhibiting at the Modern Art Centre Lisbon in a group show featuring works from the Gulbenkian Foundation Collection in collaboration with Tate St. Ives. A new collection of prints entitled the Mirror series are showing at the MCA, Denver, in an exhibition of publications by master printer Bud Shark.
A comprehensive monograph, Bernard Cohen: Work of Sfx Decades, will be available from June 2009, with essays by lan McKay and the late Norbert Lynton.
For further information or images please contact Ellie Harrison-Read at Flowers East on 020 7920 7777 or email ellie at flowerseast.com
