Artist and architect Dissolves Realities at The Blue House in Parkwood

Artist and architect, Peter Cohen returned to the David Krut Workshop at The Blue House in Parkwood on April 18 for his third collaboration and solo project, Dissolving Realities.

Cohen this time around, collaborated with Sbongiseni Khulu on a series of multi-media, unique print works that challenged conventional understandings of spatial dynamics and the nature of human perception.

Cohen’s artistic practice continues to be a meticulous examination of the interplay between interior and exterior spaces and how this shifts our understanding of reality. Through a systematic layering process, he constructed environments that challenged conventional understandings of spatial dynamics and the nature of human perception.

He manipulated visual elements to prompt viewers to investigate the reliability of memory and its role in shaping individual and collective experiences.

The artist achieved this through dissolution and created layered daydreams out of commonplace scenery where reality lost its definition, inside and outside become interchangeable, and memory and truth are mirrored distortions.

Cohen’s artistic method paralleled the process of construction; wherein images are initially formed in one medium before being deconstructed and transformed into another.

Building upon the themes explored in his previous presentation, City of Remembered Futures, Cohen continued to use unlikely elements that relate to interiors or the natural world in conjunction with cityscapes and in doing so, composed what the artist referred to as a ‘split landscapes’.

These ‘split landscapes’ are a potent metaphor for the fragmented nature of modern life. The exhibition featured eight mixed media drawings on paper that further explored the themes in Cohen’s work, offering viewers a deeper insight into his artistic practice.

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