Deville Cohen
Israel and NYC

Artist's Statement

In my Xerox based videos, sculptures, photographs, and installations I use performative and sculptural techniques to create works that reflects on the immediate relationships we have to everyday objects and environments. Using mundane objects and materials I am interested in their cultural readymade-ness; the values, functions and meaning that they contain, their formal qualities, and their narrative potential. I use humor and absurdity to create fragmented systems of symbols and physical spaces. The somewhat complex narrative structures of my videos are carefully balanced by the intentional rickety of the sets, the makeshift of their assembly and the fragility of the materials I am using.

Deville Cohen (b. 1977 Israel)  lives and works in New York. He studied sculpture at the KHB in Berlin (Germany) from 2002-2007 and received his MFA in film/video from Bard College in 2010. His work was shown in the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 2014; Disjecta, Portland OR, 2014; the Marjorie Barrick Museum, Las Vegas, 2013; Stage Presence, SFMoMA, 2012, San Francisco; Greater New York, 2010, MoMAPS1, New York; Stagecraft, University of South Florida Institute for Research in Art, 2011; BOMBbash, Marlborough Chelsea, 2011;  Foxy Production, NYC, 2011; and POISON, Louis B James gallery ,2011; among others. He was an artist in residence at EMPAC, 2012, Recess, 2010, The Wooster Group Performance Garage in the summer of 2014, and LMCC workspace 2014-15.

Artist's Links

artist's website:  www.devillecohen.com