Lynne Cohen

         Lynne Cohen’s work was the subject of discussion at the most recent Art Now Lecture featured at the University of Lethbridge. Her work is predominantly photo based, but she did allude to having some formal training in sculpture possibly as an undergraduate level. Cohen enjoys capturing scenes which are sometimes simple and mysterious. Her ability to seek out such scenarios and frame them through her lens is quite remarkable and intriguing. She began her career with simple experiments using the contact print, but rather found the small nature of the size limiting. During the mid-eighties  Lynne began to enlarge the size of her images allowing the viewer greater access into her work. An aspect of Lynne’s work I found particularly interesting as she explains “I enjoy hanging the work low in the gallery space, again allowing the viewer greater access to the work. And I particularly don’t enjoy how galleries use the same frame for all photographic work.” This attention to detail and constant negotiation with space and display elevates her images beyond the print. This increased access into the scene allows the viewer to feel inherently connected to the work. Her work during this period was consistently black and white, and as Lynne confirms “the colour of the frame dictated the colour of the space within the image.”

                Lynne admits this fascination with space and affirms “I am interested in what the space offers, how close I can get to the object. I am fascinated with the presence of light and where light is coming from. Also how objects look like instruments of control.” Her work became about exploring these site specific locations and she admits that such resources as the yellow pages were a treasure trove of undocumented locations ripe for the picking. Often getting access to these places became sort of a cat and mouse game. Some access was as easy as just asking for permission, while others were meet with harsh non reproduction limitations for what Lynne thought at the time was frivolous and irrational. Her interest in rendering people’s living spaces allowed her to make art that was neither social, political. Lynne explains I am attempting to explore the real world, create a document in my head that attempts to draw a sense of correlation of all these things”

                Lynne’s work seems to consistently be asking the question as she expands “is there a story waiting to be told, and what that story is?” This constant push for exploration has allowed Lynne images to bridge multiple generations while still holding relevance and provoking critical thinking among the art community. I would recommend anybody who is interested in photography to explore the work of Lynne Cohen. Her exploration of the formal relationships that exist within space give new meaning and challenge our relationships we have with spaces both natural and industrial.