Brian D. Cohen | Emblems

Brian D. Cohen | Emblems  11/3 - 11/25

Emblems is a series of etchings based on the form of the 17th C emblem book. The historical book intended associations and diverse meanings of key elements of the world in schematic and formal spatial arrangements. The emblem book envisioned the universe as 'like a book or mirror of our life and death', and objects in the world as invested with immediate and enduring universal significance. The physical is presented in order to reveal the spiritual, the metaphysical, the abstract, and the symbolic.

"The process of etching is physical and elemental, requiring force and pressure, inviting aggression and then delicacy, conjoining fire, water, earth, and air. There is something about setting an image in metal that implies permanence, duration, and enduring presence. I embrace themes of loss, futility, destruction, and unexpected, redemptive beauty, themes tied to the tradition of printmaking, whose imagery has always tended toward critical commentary and serious contemplation, and often toward humor and irony as well.”

Brian D. Cohen is a printmaker, painter, writer, and educator. In 1989 he founded Bridge Press, now in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, to further the association and integration of visual image, original text, and book structure. Artist’s books and prints by Cohen have been shown in forty individual exhibitions, and in over 150 group shows. His works are held by `private and public collections throughout the country. Cohen's essays and reviews have appeared both in print and in online national journals and magazines.