Zoe Cohen

I am a multi-disciplinary visual artist in Philadelphia. My current work consists of improvisational drawing, on paper and on wood. I make complex process-driven images developed through an accumulation of marks. My approach to abstraction is drawn from the intersections of my affection for the landscape, of an embodied presence in the world, and of my experiences of the power of collective human activity. I employ layered mark-making, in drawing, carving, and burning, to create meaning through repetition.

I intend for these works to be responsive to the quiet rhythms of the inner life, while also retaining an expansive scale that refers to the monumental movements of human activism and of the natural world. I’m interested in an abstraction that is active and activated, and that contains entire worlds. I thrive on complexity, and invite the viewer to find resonance in both the small moments and larger movements of my work. The worlds that my projects reflect are those of organizing for power in the workplace, of contemporary and historical Jewishness, and of spaces that resonate with the past and live in the present.

Collective Action 1
2020
Graphite on Paper, 30x40"