Cora Cohen

Cora Cohen brought new instruments and approaches to American abstraction. How the Planets Gather is emblematic of a body of work from the 1990s, characterized by an increased attention to surface, and the materially responsive nature of not only oil paint, but of varied materials Cohen introduced such as charcoal, polyurethane, marble dust and copper.

Cohen was interested in testing the boundaries of painting, carrying the weight of the New York School with her. How the Planets Gather challenges the realities of painting through its active surface which marks Cohen's painterly touch not just as contributing to an image, but to an experience: a phenomenal gathering of jutting textures and thick layers.