Presence and Memory by Daniel Kohn Opens at Reeves Contemporary
Daniel Kohn's series of recent paintings goes on view at Reeves Contemporary on West 24th Street in an exhibition entitled 'Presence and Memory' .

This recent body of work continues the investigation which began when the artist lived and worked in southern France, that of exploring interior spaces and how the impression of the inhabitants' lives inform the space. Taking his own kitchen and living room as his beginning point, Kohn upends the viewer by shifting the perspectives and by removing key objects in the space. This allows him the latitude of giving equal weight to positive and negative shapes, and to flex or bend the sight lines to broaden the viewers' lens. In one painting, Kohn is peering down onto the kitchen table from an oblique high angle, which makes the objects on the table seem to skitter and careen away from the viewer. In another, Kohn paints past the room through a doorway, placing all emphasis of the painting onto part of a wall hanging revealed through the opening.

Kohn's handling of paint lends itself well to his compositional instincts. His use of oils has the lightest of touches: thinned down, opaque paint that is layered in the sheerest of tonal gradations creating areas of luminous color. Where he wants the gravity of the painting to be, Kohn deftly employs the most wondrous jewel toned color and succeeds beautifully in directing our gaze. Where the elements of a space are included merely to inform our sense of dimension, he paints in quiet neutrals. Moments of colorful detail are juxtaposed against these quiet, undefined corners of the room which ultimately embodies an astute observation of life itself: as our attention is engaged on one thing, the rest of the space we occupy falls away. We only half realize where we are, and are somewhat blind to the impression we make on the spaces we occupy.

Kohn has done a number of site-specific works, including 40 feet high commission for Fiduciary Trust at Rockefeller Center; two 40 x 40 feet installation at the Grand Central Station for the New York MTA; a series of ten large format interiors for the prestigious Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox, among others. Prior to moving to New York, he did several projects in France, including an installation at the Church of Saint Andre in Montreuil, and several set designs for modern dance at the Theatre de Choisy le Roi. He is the recipient of a Threshold Grant from Hampshire College, a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the City of Montreuil, and the Ellen Batell Stoeckel Fellowship from Yale.