What We Hold Grows Weight

Genevieve Cohn

Jewett Art Gallery

April 1 - 15, 2022

gallery with white walls, wood floor, lighting grid; very large brightly colored paintings on the 3 visible walls

What We Hold Grows Weight is an exhibition of recent and new paintings by Genevieve Cohn. Her work envisions a world based around communities of women and female power. The characters in these paintings sometimes engage in recognizable activities; sometimes their gestures are more abstract. The landscapes they inhabit draw equally from fantastical imagery and the natural world. Imagined ceremonies and the idea of the sacred coexist with references to historical depictions of women at work, as in imagery from the Women's Land Army from World War II.

The exuberant colors in Cohn's palette cause her characters to vibrate within their scenes, in some cases making them look almost lit from within. In groups they engage in quiet, mysterious rituals that hint at the power inherent in collective women's action. Even the solitary characters in her paintings seem to glow, exuding a quiet internal power all their own.

This exhibition was on view in the Jewett Art Gallery in April 2022.

two very large predominately blue paintings of women handling green-white glowing orbs on a white gallery wall

one very large colorful painting of 3 women at left; three small colorful paintings hung in a row at right

gallery corner; at left is black wall text reading 'What We Hold Grows Weight, Genevieve Cohn'; at right is a very large brightly colored painting of a kneeling woman with magenta skin and yellow overalls

at right, view of small colorful painting of crouching woman, installed on gray fabric wall outside a gallery; wood gallery door is visible with text reading 'STUDENT ART GALLERY'; at far left the gallery itself is visible with a big colorful painting

painting of a woman with a cat on her head

Genevieve Cohn

Genevieve Cohn is a New England-based artist. She received her MFA in Painting from Indiana University and her BA in Art and Culture & Communications from Ithaca College. Her work has been exhibited in a number of venues throughout the US, most recently with Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, FL; Hashimoto Contemporary in New York City, NY; and Monya Rowe Gallery in New York City, NY. She has been featured in New American Paintings, Art Maze Magazine, A Women's Thing Magazine, and Friend of the Artist Magazine. Cohn has been awarded artist residencies at AiRGentum in Seville, Spain; the Vermont Studio Center; the Ragdale Foundation outside of Chicago; and the Fiore Art Center in Maine. She was a Mellow Fellow in Art at Wellesley College during the 2021-22 academic year.

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