Etienne Cohen

Etienne Cohen displays in her work a true love and sensitivity for the natural world and its verdant vistas.  Her landscapes vary – some are from life, whilst others are compositions which stray into the realm of fantasy, creating joyous scenes dominated by color and pattern. The palette is reflective of the landscapes of Australia to which Cohen emigrated from England. An intense range of earth tones, from deep greens with light yellows against cyan skies, through mellow ochre tones to the striking reds of the bushland earth fill the paintings. She displays a wonderfully light touch, employing small, carefully worked brushstrokes which build up into individual leaves on trees, rocky cliff faces and scrub.

There are elements of both the hyper-realist and surrealist in Cohen’s work. Her life landscapes are rendered immaculately in stunning color, but her more creative landscapes are dominated by pattern and dramatic perspective which pulls the viewer in and engages them entirely in a more emotive, empathic relation to nature.