At Random: Jeanine Cohen
As part of our series on the artists and designers behind Spazio Nobile’s The Random Collection, we asked Cohen about her thoughts on collecting the unique
How does the fact that these pieces are unique in a series impact your work?
The pieces that make up Works on Paper Structure II follow the same principle, but they’re proposing variations in a constant space.
How do you think design is evolving nowadays towards the field of contemporary art?
Some works in design get close to an artwork status due to their creative and plastic dimension, and the way they provoke emotions, pleasure, with an imaginary that transcends their strict utilitarian function.
There’s a major breakthrough going on in the field of the great contemporary art fairs, where design is reaching the status of art among many international galleries —for example, there’s Donald Judd and his chair project.
How are both interacting?
You can visit a museum exhibition or a gallery or a contemporary art fair, and see that the distinctions between arts and design are no longer obvious. There are artists opening up new ways of producing work with the help of technical means, from painting to photography, from video to digital tools.
Why do we have those two worlds, fine arts versus visual arts, that have been separated?
Today, the visual arts have absorbed works produced by diverse techniques that have developed new forms of expression to produce unique and original works.
Is functionality an important consideration in your process?
I’m not a designer, so functionality doesn’t really factor into my work.
How do you perceive your work both as part of The Random Collection and as part of your overall production?
I think it’s a way to distribute a characteristic aspect of my work on paper as a medium. Compared to my three-dimensional work in wood, this seems to me an interesting development to reach a wider audience.
Jeanine’s Work on Paper Structure II series is part of The Random Collection, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of TL Magazine. Launched at Art Brussels (19-22 April), it is always available at the Spazio Nobile Gallery in Brussels and will be at an upcoming exhibition at the Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk from October 18-22.
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