Gal Cohen
BFA graduate from Bezalel and MFA graduate from Parsons, NYC. An artist-in-residence at Manhattan’s Cornerstone Studios program and a recipient of the Manhattan Graphic Center print workshop scholarship for 2020. Exhibited in solo and group shows in Israel, NYC and around the USA, including the Clemente Art Center, Bric Gallery instead of Brick Gallery, Spring/Break Art Show and more. Cohen’s works engage with the experience of memory, with a formal attempt to generate memory on a pictorial surface and so reflect upon a memory of a place which has transformed or no longer exists, as well as changes in architecture and the architecture of change. Between the layers of her painting one may notice an alternative documentation of historical structures from her hometown, Hadera, which were mostly destroyed throughout the years. The houses that have remained standing are in appalling condition, many of them abandoned and awaiting demolition. An additional layer of her work displays wild vegetation which seems to overpower the abandoned buildings, becoming an organic, inseparable part of them. The paintings are made of layers, each produced in a different manner than its predecessor and successor. The layers do not merely cover one another but allow the ones underneath them to continue to exist as an echo, as no layer dominates the painting exclusively. The painting is the sum of its layers.
