A fine art exhibition of original paintings and drawings by artist Mark Cohen that focus on the Holocaust. The art work was developed from photographs primarily available from the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

Exhibition Dates: July 8-August 19
GREENFIELD GALLERY

Gallery Hours:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Galleries are free and open to the public; this exhibition contains some sensitive content and challenging imagery- viewer discretion is advised.

This exhibition is also available as an educational presentation or touring exhibition. Learn more here.

This exhibition and educational initiative is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Division of Arts & Culture; presented in collaboration with the Armory Art Center.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mark Cohen is an award-winning graphic designer, marketing communications executive, teacher, painter, and printmaker. His subject matter utilizes contemporary and past iconic figures from politics, popular culture, entertainment and war and peace.

He has chosen to paint many of the human “monsters” in contemporary life, including Jared Loughner, James Holmes, Bashar al-Assad and many more.  One of these monsters, Amon Goeth, the commandant of the World War ll Nazi Plaszow Concentration Camp spurred him to create a series of paintings about the Holocaust, Plaszow and three generations of women associated with Goeth.  Most of the paintings are large scale works that demand notice.  They exhibit a sparse and concise pictorial composition that combines abstract expressionism and pop art in their execution. In these paintings, viewers can investigate issues of antisemitism, genocide and the psychological effects on the women associated with Amon Goeth.  Cohen continually adds works to this series.  These same issues are seen in the perpetration of other heinous acts that are reported in the media on an all too frequent basis.  The artist’s intention is to remind viewers that more than seventy years after the Holocaust, we live in a world of not only continuing antisemitism, but hateful biases that result in genocides and senseless killings around the world. Cohen has also created a series of thirty paintings that examine issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.  In 2020, he painted a series of ten paintings about Covid-19 and mask-wearing.  The paintings have been shown in multiple venues during 2020 and 2021, including the Armory Art Center. The purpose of the works is to remind all of us about the selfless efforts of doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals who risk their lives daily to care for us.

By using art to examine these issues, he hopes to remind viewers that we live in a world of continuing hateful biases that result in senseless killings around the world and that we should end hatred and promote understanding toward all people.

Learn more about the artist at marklouiscohen.com