Rachel Kohn (born 1981) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in New York. Her work spans painting, sculpture and installation to explore perceptions of space and mortality. Rachel creates fantastical landscapes of illness and decay. These visceral forms have a very physical presence, yet also evoke the beautiful and transcendent qualities of human fragility.

 

Rachel studied Art and Mathematics at Skidmore College and is currently completing an MFA in Fine Arts at Hunter College, NY. The tension between darkness and beauty is a strong feature of her work. She says, "the fact that those I love are destined to fall apart is at the heart of what I do." Line detail is also very important to Rachel, creating a sense of balance in the work, whether it marks the path of a drawing, connects parts of an installation, or divides space.

Rachel uses tactile materials including plaster, gauze, foam, paper maché, plastic, wire, thread and glue to create her unique organic visual language. Her methods draw upon her original training as a painter, often working paint into the surface of a sculpture to leave an impression in the texture. The layering of each piece creates a history that becomes an integral part of the overall work. Like our skin, these layers allude to an underlying structure with innate strength, but which is also vulnerable to damage and decay.

 

Rachel says, "I am influenced by the moment of unravelling, where things become undone and start to deteriorate. My work romanticises this moment, by morphing the body into a space that allows the viewer to enter this experience in all its harrowing beauty."