by Debbie Tuma
From 2000 to 2004, artist Fredi Cohen created “Archsculpt Studio,” her Art House in the Northwest Woods of East Hampton. Instead of showing her art in a gallery, she created an entire home and furnishings as her showcase for her original sculpture, built into both the exterior and interior of her house. She created hand-sculpted elements throughout, including a fireplace, entrance, staircases, kitchen, floors, sinks, baths, and showers, with built-in art, using sculpted clay. Cohen’s “Art House” as she called it, got the attention of Bloomberg News, who sent a film crew to her home and did interviews of her and her house. Her home was also featured in other Hamptons’ media. She then started “Art Tours,” when she opened her home to the public.
After selling her home, Cohen moved to Florida and became a snowbird, summering in the Hamptons. And throughout this process, her art has seen several transformations. Instead of permanent installations, or “art in architecture,” she is now making art to hang on the walls, combining different materials and artistic techniques, such as sculpture, drawing, painting, paper and printing techniques, and stained glass.
She was recently discovered by an international arts foundation, called “Circle Foundation for the Arts,” in Lyon, France, and her art appears on the covers and interior of two international art magazines, “Masterful Minds” and “Spotlight.” Following this, Cohen’s work was in EuropArt Fair, a digital show in Amsterdam, in October; at the San Diego Art Fair in November, and then at Art Miami in December.
Now she is having three upcoming shows, two in Manhattan and one in the Hamptons. The most comprehensive way of seeing her work will be at her first museum-quality show, at the Agora Gallery, located at 530 West 25th Street in Chelsea, New York City. It runs from March 1 through 21, when she will have a huge retrospective of four series of her fine art, taking up much of the first floor of this large gallery. The opening reception is on March 6, from 6- 8 p.m.
Her latest series is called “Visual Orchestra.” Her creative approach integrates a wide array of artistic techniques including sculpture, drawing, painting, stained glass and suminagashi, an ancient Japanese printing technique. By mixing these techniques, she created a visual metaphor for peaceful societal harmony. “I was so frustrated about the external world where it is more about differences, that I realized this was my way of trying to save the world, by making everybody get along,” she explained.
Then there is Cohen’s “Peacock Series.” During Covid, she was stuck in her house in Florida, and noticed a flock of peacocks nearby. “I noticed that they would prance around, socialize and flirt with each other,” she said. “In a funny way I was jealous of their freedom, because they could socialize, and I could not. So I created this series inspired by their expression of what I saw, which was beauty, grace, color contrast and freedom.”
Another series is called, “Born Out of the Box” and “Open Windows.” This series is comprised of square and round installations which were inspired by her feelings of how we are all connected to one another and all life forms on the planet.
“When one looks at the various eight inch components in this large installation, the viewer will be free to interpret all these organic shapes the way they see them. It is a playful, subliminal work of wall art,” she said.
For the fourth series, Cohen is showing her elegant, compelling, graceful female figurative white sculptures from an earlier period.
Fredi Cohen is also having a show of her work at Art Expo NYC on April 3-6, at Pier 36 in Manhattan, and she may be having a show at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair from July 4-10. Cohen has also been invited to show her work by multiple galleries throughout Europe. “I’m thrilled to be expanding my work into a new international audience,” she said. For further information, visit www.fredicohenart.com
