Alex Cohe |
Standing with a plastic red
cup in hand, a furry winter hat and a shirt adorned with a flock of flamingos,
Alex Cohen is hard to miss. The 22-year-old student at the Art Institute was the
embodiment of everything that last week’s “Short Court: Tropical Aesthletics” stood
for – funky art, indoor summer sports and sand galore even as a blizzard raged
on outside Antena Gallery.
Cohen, whose friend Chris helped
to curate the event, was invited to take part in the show, which displayed work
by some of the city’s young and up-and-coming artists. Inspired by ancient
totem poles, Cohen’s work was in keeping with the show’s tropical theme and
result was an impressive life-sized cardboard installation that instantly dominated
the room.
The Pilsen Project caught up with Cohen to talk art and the inspiration behind his work.
Where did you get the idea for the piece?
I was thinking tropical and
I was also thinking about totem poles stacked on top of each other so that was
the tropical lure.
What art do you interested in?
All the different types:
figurative, non-representational, just everything really.
What’s your favorite medium?
I like to use acrylics, any
water-based mediums and ceramics.
What was it like to create the piece?
It was a lot of fun. I went
to the Field Museum to look at their totem pole and I drew inspiration from
that.