Cora Cohen Trust

Nomads: Placing Myself In A World In Which I Had Lost My Place

In his monograph essay, “Cora Cohen, The Presences of Absence,” Raphael Rubinstein noted: “in most of her work, Cohen tends to elide the differences between gesture and shape to compelling effect, but inserting pieces of wood veneer into the paintings allowed her to play with more distinct shapes,” and adds: “in Nomad 2, for instance, the veneer is surrounded by equally solid painted shapes.“

Abstract mixed-media artwork with teal brushstrokes, brown wood-grain forms, white shapes, and lime green accents; energetic, layered mood.

Nomad, 2008

Acrylic, Flashe, spray enamel, tape and wooden veneer on linen

38 x 34 in.

Abstract mixed-media painting with brown, white, blue, pink, and green shapes suggesting a seated figure; bold textures create a lively, dreamlike mood.

Nomad 2, 2009

Flashe, spray enamel, oil, wood veneer on linen

34 x 38 in.

Abstract mixed-media painting of a pink-clad figure with a green-and-orange hat, surrounded by layered brushstrokes and muted textures.

Nomad (revised), 2013

Acrylic paint, Flashe, oil, spray enamel, tape, and wood veneer on linen

34 × 38 in.

Abstract mixed-media collage with layered brown shapes, pale blue and pink washes, and a central weathered face; textured, dreamlike, somber mood.

Nomad 4, 2015

Mixed media

34 × 38 in.

Abstract mixed-media painting with layered woodgrain, white and green brushstrokes, and a dark, shadowy human figure; moody, dreamlike tone.

Little Nomad, 2009

Pigment, spray paint, wood veneer on linen

10 x 13 in.

Abstract mixed-media landscape with weathered textures, dark sweeping forms, muted hills, green fields, and red-orange accents; contemplative tone.

Little Nomad 8, 2014

Acrylic mediums, India ink, oil, veneer on linen

20 x 24 in.

Abstract mixed-media landscape in muted beige, black, gray, and teal, suggesting weathered ruins or trees beneath a turbulent sky; orange mark below.

Little Nomad 5, 2013

India ink, oil, wood veneer on linen

20 x 25 in.

Abstract mixed-media painting with layered brown, gray, and ochre textures forming rugged shapes above a vivid turquoise base; earthy, mysterious mood.

Little Nomad 9, 2014

Flashe, ink, oil, veneer on linen

9 x 10 in.

Dark abstract painting with shadowy humanlike forms, layered brown, black, and ochre textures, creating a mysterious, somber atmosphere.

Little Nomad 3 (revised), 2013

Flashe, ink, graphite, and veneer on linen

10 × 9 in.

Abstract mixed-media painting with layered earth tones, teal, red, and yellow forms; rough textures create a tense, dreamlike mood.

Little Nomad 6, 2014

Flashe, oil, veneer on linen

16 x 15 in.

Nomads: Placing Myself In A World In Which I Had Lost My Place

Nomads: Placing Myself In A World In Which I Had Lost My Place

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2007–2015

Back to Index

2007–2015

Cora Cohen’s essay about her Nomads was posted to her website in 2015.

“I began my Nomad paintings in 2007 during a profoundly unsettling period, after the loft in which I’d lived and worked for more than thirty years received a vacate order, and I had no permanent home or studio. They were my attempt to place myself in a world in which I had lost my place.”

“In the borrowed studio of a friend, I began cutting wood veneer that was on hand, attempting to follow the shapes and forms of Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 - 23 March 1984). I had learned about Prouvé a decade before. A self-taught architect and designer, Prouvé made and produced structures and furniture for nomadic existences. He had been a member of the French Resistance, sought to foster connections between art and industry, and made efforts to link art and social consciousness. I admired the combination of pragmatism and idealism, and the beauty of his forms.:”

“Cutting veneer following Prouvé’s forms, I found unexpected curves and moves. It seemed as if his forms detoured from the expectations they set – as if they were animated – causing me to discard my initial expectation of what a form might have signaled. The resulting slippages and discrepancies prompted me to include more disparate elements in the rest of my painting.”

“I have continued making Nomad paintings. After gluing the shapes that I cut onto stretched linen, I deploy both oil and water-based paints to make marks and forms that are antithetical to those shapes. These individual marks often have a solitary bent. I paint onto other shapes, at times integrating them into a larger whole, at times attempting to eradicate them.”

“The Nomads would be seen best in liminal spaces at irregular intervals: on a wall of a staircase, opposite an elevator, on the exterior wall of an exhibition gallery, on an interior column. These spaces would constitute provisional way stations for the works, and the irregular intervals and placements would allow the viewer’s consideration of the uncertain and contingent place we have in the world.”

Cora Cohen’s essay about her Nomads was posted to her website in 2015.

“I began my Nomad paintings in 2007 during a profoundly unsettling period, after the loft in which I’d lived and worked for more than thirty years received a vacate order, and I had no permanent home or studio. They were my attempt to place myself in a world in which I had lost my place.”

“In the borrowed studio of a friend, I began cutting wood veneer that was on hand, attempting to follow the shapes and forms of Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 - 23 March 1984). I had learned about Prouvé a decade before. A self-taught architect and designer, Prouvé made and produced structures and furniture for nomadic existences. He had been a member of the French Resistance, sought to foster connections between art and industry, and made efforts to link art and social consciousness. I admired the combination of pragmatism and idealism, and the beauty of his forms.:”

“Cutting veneer following Prouvé’s forms, I found unexpected curves and moves. It seemed as if his forms detoured from the expectations they set – as if they were animated – causing me to discard my initial expectation of what a form might have signaled. The resulting slippages and discrepancies prompted me to include more disparate elements in the rest of my painting.”

“I have continued making Nomad paintings. After gluing the shapes that I cut onto stretched linen, I deploy both oil and water-based paints to make marks and forms that are antithetical to those shapes. These individual marks often have a solitary bent. I paint onto other shapes, at times integrating them into a larger whole, at times attempting to eradicate them.”

“The Nomads would be seen best in liminal spaces at irregular intervals: on a wall of a staircase, opposite an elevator, on the exterior wall of an exhibition gallery, on an interior column. These spaces would constitute provisional way stations for the works, and the irregular intervals and placements would allow the viewer’s consideration of the uncertain and contingent place we have in the world.”