Winston Wächter Fine Art is pleased to announce its first solo show with artist Ed Cohen. In Cohen's work there is a palpable tension between the first impression of joyful randomness, imparted by his drip technique, and the evident order and control that underlies these colorful canvases. Though Pollock is an obvious reference point, (Cohen works on the floor and drips his paint from above), Cohen sources are spiritual as well as technical in nature. Chief among these sources are Buddhist philosophy and the enso paintings of 17th century Buddhist monks. For Cohen, as for the monks, painting is an act of meditation in which the artist and his materials are one. Whether Cohen employs the circle, the form commonly used by the monks, or lines that extend across the canvas that Cohen imagines to be infinite, there are mysteries to be explored here beyond his beautiful colors and adept handling of the paint.

Indeed, Cohen seeks to paint that which is beyond words. He paints states of mind and emotion, and hopes to give his viewer a moment apart from everyday life. His paintings are an invitation to ask questions about the world and struggle with questions that are unanswerable. He hopes, above all, to trigger an internal, emotional response in the viewer, and to that end, he provides incredibly rich and evocative titles. Today the wind is not a part of the weather. Daphne would recite for our pleasure. Music falls in the silence. Culled from a broad range of poetic and philosophical sources, these jewel-like titles are not the keys to uncovering any one meaning of the work to which they are joined. They simply provide the viewer with another facet to consider and experience, another potential trigger for that internal response that Cohen hopes to evoke.

For further information, please contact Amanda Snyder at 212-255-2718.