Bruce Cohen

Leslie Sacks Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent oil paintings and pastels by Los Angeles based artist, Bruce Cohen. Cohen has spent his decades-long career making meticulous, curious interior environments tinged with surrealism. His work nods to the old masters and his personal passion for art history. Stylistically, the paintings' central focus of everyday objects from daily life connects to 17th century Dutch masters from whom he draws great inspiration. In practice, Cohen successfully summons a contemporary sensibility with a polished, yet punchy palette and an almost surreal compression of the picture plane. Cohen employs a distinct visual vocabulary of repeated imagery, motifs and objects reimagining them in infinite arrangements and environments. And while absent of any figures, these spaces unquestionably infer human presence. Geometric networks of windows, doorways and flattened hallways are mainstays of the paintings. This compositional architecture being reminiscent of Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series is again emblematic of Bruce Cohen's keen art historical sensibilities. He executes mastery of the subject and uses this to his advantage, constantly perfecting his process to stunning effect culminating in an unhurried and sumptuous composition.