Claudia Cohen
Works:
The Other Side of the Ocean
Lizard Bill
Merfish
Artistic Statement:
Impact, not realism, is the aim of sculptor Claudia Cohen. By exploring figurative and narrative subjects, her work raises questions about the condition of being human. Her style has been described as comic surrealism, a style that blends objective reality with mythology and flights of fancy.
Her sculpted beings, in bronze and ceramic, portray a magical cast of characters; human, animal, or a fantastical progeny from a universe of her own devising. Combining humor and pathos, the works involve the viewer in this mysterious world of the artist’s intuition. Much time and effort goes into the creation of each piece , to obtain the look that her imagination conjures forth. Sometimes the process ends at the first firing of the kiln, and the piece remains in the medium of ceramics.
And sometimes the process goes much further. The fired clay original is taken to her favorite Foundry, Artworks in Berkeley, where the complicated process begins to cast the piece into metal. The final and most transforming step occurs at the stage when the subtle range of patina colors are applied to bring the work to life.
“To be able to shape my dreams and fantasies in tangible form, to see what three- dimensional forms those mysterious sparks form within my subconscious will take is for me what the search is all about. And creating these works allows me to share these visions with others.”
Claudia Cohen, 2000
E-Mail: Hansoncarmel@aol.com