The Heidi Cho Gallery takes great pleasure in presenting Nancy Cohen and Katherine Parker in, Material Witness November 12, 2004 through December 14, 2004.

 

Opening reception:
Friday November 12, 2004, 6-8 pm

 

The single thread which unites these two artists is their supreme concern with materials and surface.

Nancy Cohen uses objects “ (…) rich in cultural, associative or symbolic meaning” in her work. Glass and silverware are predominant, industrial wire, rubber and cement add dimension. The artist has the ability to transform found objects and elicit properties from them that were hitherto invisible. Cohen’s work is a juxtaposition of opposites, strength and fragility meld in the same magical moment. Seductive, sensual surfaces are key in the work.

Carving, dripping and scraping the paint, Katherine Parker makes marks that inform the surfaces of her painting. Archetypal signs, symbols and occasional language add emphasis to the canvases. The paintings are certainly not without precedent, Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns and A. R Penck come to mind. Parker’s lush oil paintings are both personal and female. Sometimes confrontational, sometimes just commenting, they beckon us to contemplate. In Parker’s hands, the language of paint creates a compelling dialogue.