Artists: Alan Turner and Arthur Cohen
Exhibition title: Two One-Person Shows
Venue: Mitchell Algus, New York, US
Date: October 21 – November 26, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Mitchell Algus, New York
The Mitchell Algus Gallery presents two simultaneous one-person exhibitions of new work by Alan Turner and Arthur Cohen opening Saturday October 21 and running through Sunday November 26.
Two native New Yorkers, Arthur Cohen and Alan Turner have known each other since they attended art camp as teenagers. Both artists attended colleges of the City University, have shown extensively with New York galleries (Turner with Edward Thorp, Koury Wingate, Lennon Weinberg; Cohen with Susan Caldwell, Max Hutchinson and Stephen Rosenberg), have been included in Whitney Biennials and have works in that museum’s collection. Arthur Cohen has also been a long-time faculty member of Queens College.
Alan Turner’s art is one of the most diverse, meticulous, and under-recognized bodies of work created in New York in the last 40 years. Known primarily as a painter, the artist has in recent years devoted himself to object making. The current show, following Turner’s exhibition of paintings in 2015, focuses on this new work.
Arthur Cohen paints large canvases that provide an arena in which to explore the language of painting. The imagery manifest in Cohen’s work has ranged from classical architecture, to constructivist geometry, to personal iconography to, most recently, to life sized rodeo bulls trapped by the physical limits of the canvas. These new paintings have progressed from brush painted, realistic representations with contrasting, abstract accents to finger painted explorations of the bulls’ massive form laid out in vivid color. Cohen has recently showed his bull paintings at HilbertRaumBerlin.
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Candelabra, 2015-2016, paper mache, string, 37 x 14 x 6.5 in.
Alan Turner, Hat Lamp, 2015-2016, paper mache, electic bulb and cord, wooden shelf, 10.5 x 20 x 7 in.
Alan Turner, Large Funnel, 2015-2016, paper mache and cardboard, 7.75 x 2.5 x 11.5 in.
Alan Turner, Pianola, 2015-2016, pencil and paint on canvas, 15.75 x 7.5 x 2.25 in.
Alan Turner, Should, 2015-2016, pencil, cardboard, thread and wood, 7.75 x 2.5 x 11.5 in.
Alan Turner, Witches Cap, 2015-2016, paper mache, 36 x 36 x 36 in.; Funnel Cap, 2015-2016, paper mache, 26 x 34.5 x 35 in.; Thinking Cap, 2015-2016, paper mache and pencils, 16 x 21 x 16.5 in.
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Alan Turner, Arthur Cohen, Two One-Person Shows, 2017, exhibition view, Mitchell Algus, New York
Arthur Cohen, Bull with Yellow Green, 2016, oil on linen, 63.5 x 40 in.
Arthur Cohen, One of Each #2, 2015, oil on linen, 88 x 72 in.
Arthur Cohen, One of Each, 2013, oil on linen, 88 x 73 in.
Arthur Cohen, Untitled, 2017, oil on linen, 80.75 x 64 in.
Arthur Cohen, Untitled, 2017, oil on linen, 80.75 x 64 in.