Linda Kohen: Spare Room
September 16th, 2020 — November 14th, 2020
Painter Linda Kohen unveils a prolific series of drawn reflections on her life’s work at Piero Atchugarry Gallery in collaboration with The Americas Collection.
Spare Room includes Linda Kohen’s most recent works made in isolation, alongside a selection from her autobiographical oeuvre dating back to the 1980s.
The Piero Atchugarry Gallery, in collaboration with The Americas Collection, presents Spare Room, a solo exhibition of recent drawings made in isolation by prolific painter Linda Kohen, alongside a selection of her paintings and her 2005 large-scale installation, El Gran Biombo. Fleeing from Jewish persecution in Italy, Linda Kohen and her family emigrated to Montevideo by way of Buenos Aires in 1939. After committing to a lifelong study of painting in 1940, Kohen joined the Taller Torres-García, where she studied, created, and exhibited her art from 1949 until 1962. From there, her formal signature emerged as she developed a timeless partnership with the qualities of painting. Kohen and her family left Uruguay in 1973 when a dictatorship rose to power; the displacement Kohen endured prompted her to focus on working in series - producing an ever evolving, intimate reflection on her daily life. In 2018, Kohen received the National Prize for Visual Arts, and held a retrospective exhibition of her paintings at the Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo.
As its title suggests, Spare Room presents the underlying memory of something long gone that permeates Kohen's seventy-year-long memoir. Having lived a life colored by uncertainty and departure, painting was Kohen's way to pin down the last trace of a memory before it disappeared from the world. Her 2005 painting-installation, El Gran Biombo, welcomes the spectator into the meticulously painted corridors of her home. During isolation Kohen reflected on her major installation, assembling an abundance of drawings which exercise a more minimal approach to depicting her home. Collectively, the exhibited works define her earnest and autobiographical approach to confronting the implications of image-making. Offering a new entry-point into the artist's compendious record of her personal life.
Selected Works
Linda Kohen, Biombito “Naturaleza”, 2020, Oil and pencil on cardboard, 4 panels - each 8.75 x 4.25 in.
Linda Kohen, Biombito ‘La casa”, 2020, Oil and pencil on cardboard, 5 panels - 8.75 x 4.2 in.
Linda Kohen, Biombito “Cocina con apio”, 2020 Oil and pencil on cardboard 4 panels - each 8.75 x 4.1 in
Linda Kohen, Biombito “La Cuidad”, 2020, Oil and pencil on cardboard, 5 panels - each 8.25 x 4.1 in.
Linda Kohen, El Gran Biombo (The large screen), 2005, Double-sided screen, Oil on wood, 12 panels - each 185 x 63 cm.
Linda Kohen, Untitled, 2020, 44 charcoal drawings on newsprint, Dimensions variable.
Linda Kohen, Cielo II (Sky 2), 1995, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 73 cm.
Linda Kohen, Cielo I ( Sky 1 ), 1995, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 73 cm.
Linda Kohen, Cama con aplique (Bed with applique), 2003, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 92 x 73 cm.
Linda kohen, He dormido sola (I have slept alone), 2010, Oil on canvas, 92 x 71 cm.
Linda Kohen, Homenaje a Mantegna (Homage to Mantegna), 1981, Oil on canvas, 81 x 64 cm.
Linda Kohen, La ducha (The shower), 2003, Oil on canvas, 92 x73 cm.
Linda Kohen, Subiendo la escalera (Going up the stair), 1981, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 50 cm.
Virtual Tour
Video Podcasts
Piero Atchugarry Gallery, in collaboration with The Americas Collection, presents Spare Room, a solo exhibition of recent drawings made in isolation by prolific painter Linda Kohen, alongside a selection of her paintings and her 2005 large-scale installation, El Gran Biombo. The exhibition's video podcast will premiere at 12pm on Saturday, October 31st.
