Paddy

Cohn

Paddy Cohn

An abstract artist, Cohn's sensuous, mysterious explorations into textures, layers and distressed materials reflect a childhood spent in the landscapes of the Caribbean. After graduating from FIT, Paddy spent a decade in New York City as a successful textile designer, only to return to her roots in St. Thomas in 1989. There, a passion was born for vibrant optics, distressed textures and the forgotten elements of nature- from sand to mica to driftwood. Like the sun-ravaged Caribbean landscapes of her youth, nature saturates Paddy Cohn’s work. Colors explode and textures merge and mutate. Layers of paint mix with elements of nature, effaced, defaced, eroded and distilled. Like maps of some invisible reality, only mystery and beauty remain. "There is an invisible realm where things merge and essences reveal themselves," she says. "I call that emergence “ 'Beauty.' Cohn's work has been collected, commissioned and displayed in corporate and private collections from the Caribbean to New York to Europe.