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Cohan at Curator's Office

April 14, 2010

Curator’s Office makes a good case this month for the proposition that less is more. Andrea Pollan, the curator in question, is showing the prints of Charles Cohan in her working and exhibition space at 1515 14th Street NW, the building that is home to several of DC’s high end galleries. Cohan uses only black (or perhaps off-black) ink in these unframed prints, which are fastened to the wall with silver magnets.

Pollan with Race Track

There are two series, one called “Tracks”, in which the artist has used a collagraphic process to overlay the aerial views of the racetracks used in various motor race series, including the 2008 Formula One series and the 2009 motoGP motorcycle series. If there is a reason, other than aesthetics, why these have been chosen, it is not apparent nor is it particularly necessary. (Frankly, I’m relieved to be spared the usual b.s.) The prints are strong and visually compelling; while the imagery is all on one plane with no effort at perspective, they nonetheless exert a kind of magnetic pull into the center – at least for me.

a peak

The second series, of which two examples are shown, is called “Peaks.” While it was explained to me, I’m still not exactly sure how they were made, but it has something to do with incrementally printing up to 24 plates on the same paper, each adding small bits of ink corresponding to topographical slices of the mountains, in this case Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood. The end products are dreamy, smoky marks that seem to almost float above the surface of the paper, darkest at the highest points of the peaks.

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