Deville Cohen at Disjecta

Paperclips, thumbtacks, and photocopies of cheese graters--these office 'staples' if you will, comprised an intriguing exhibition by Deville Cohen, an Israeli contemporary artist from New York.  Cohen has recently shown his work "Zero" in a gallery in North Portland (NoPo) called Disjecta.  Disjecta is an art space that includes an art gallery, a lecture space, and a large open gallery.  Cohen's piece was a dimly lit space large maze filled with discombobulated black cardboard forms that direct people toward a projected film in an area toward the back of the space.  The entrance began with a turn-style made of black matte board with large photocopies of cheese graters.  Cohen developed his 'set' with temporary semi-abstract black structures that seemed to loosely suggest graphs, radar grids, and sonar screens.  

The projected movie shown at the back of the installation was a surrealist parody of soap operas, day time dramas, with references to The X-Files.  The interim time between the shows was filled with large paper puppets/two dimensional objects, magnifying glasses, and other things that suggested kinetic imagery similar to the intros of sci-fi television shows.  The revelation of skin peaking through from legs and arms supporting the 'puppets' shows that Cohen wants to show how the performance is structured and played through.  

The intentional imperfect craftsmanship of binder clips, thumbtacks, and other office paraphernalia shows Cohen's influence by popular and office culture, that's haphazard and awkward.  He seems to be offering a perspective of contemporary art that considers a thoughtful glance about media and social norms, which is full of dark humor, isolation, and ironic kitsch.