For Sale: Abstract Painting in an Unusual Medium
david & shoshana cooper
(acrylic paint on clear polyester film) at:
http://www.biddingtons.com/os/itemhtml/ht500564.shtml
Shoshana Cooper has been painting for eight years. For the past several
years, she has been studying at the Arts Students League with John
Hultburg, a former student of Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Richard
Diebenkorn and with Fred Mitchell, a native of Meridian, Mississippi,
who was one of the pioneers at Coentes Slip in lower Manhattan with
Ellsworth Kelly and Agnes Martin. Some of her early paintings were
included in a show celebrating Women's History Month at the New York
City Transit Authority and a recent painting was selected to represent
Fred Mitchell's class in the 1998 -1999 Arts Students' League catalogue.
Her work has been leaning toward the abstract for some time, although
figurative elements remain to a varied degree. Last November, after
seeing the Jasper Johns show at the Museum of Modern Art, she became
intrigued by several of Johns' lesser known works which were labeled
as "acrylic on plastic" and "ink on plastic". Since she was already
using acrylic paint at that time, she decided to try using a clear
plastic that is very similar to mylar. Immediately, she found that the
paint moved more easily as it was applied and when she turned the work
over to the opposite side, she discovered that the color was much more
intense.
She has since developed her technique so that the verso (the unpainted
side) is always the finished product, although some paintings
could have both sides displayed. The results have been quite
striking, although there is very little resemblance to the Johns
works that originally inspired her. She continues to experiment with
new methods of applying and removing paint to create varied effects.
She tries to make each work fresh and unique while maintaining
continuity of style.