Wingspan
Rachel Gisela Cohen

Wingspan is a solo exhibition of large works presented by Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Gisela Cohen. The exhibition features seven large-scale mixed media paintings created from 2018-2021. Each work features a variety of materials ranging from flashe paint, sequined fabric, recycled beads and faux crocodile. Using the decorative as a defense mechanism, Rachel Gisela Cohen’s work reflects on beauty, surface, and the excess of contemporary culture, moving between the natural and material world. Cohen’s practice engages in a deep material investigation, focusing on the tension and competition between paint and fabric. The color and patterning of Cohen’s sequined encrusted chromatic paintings stem from both an observation and reflection on aposematic organisms and materials found deep inside Costa Rican rainforest ecosystems and New York City’s garment district.

About the Artist:

Rachel Gisela Cohen is an artist, educator, and independent curator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She received her M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute and a B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts from Drew University. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, COPE NYC, and the Montclair Art Museum. She has exhibited works both nationally and internationally, exhibiting at The Spring Break Art Show 2020, Armenia Art Fair, Pierogi Gallery’s The Boiler, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, and Hunter College Art Galleries. She currently teaches as an Artist Educator at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.

For more information on Rachel and her work visit her website here, or follow her on Instagram.