For Immediate Release
Contact: Karen Mulcahy
212.714.0044
March 30, 2006


Presence and Memory by Daniel Kohn Opens at Reeves Contemporary
NEW YORK, NY… Daniel Kohn’s series of recent paintings goes on view at Reeves Contemporary on West 24th Street in an exhibition entitled “Presence and Memory” on April 6th. The artist’s reception is between 6-8 p.m. and the show will run through May 13th.

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.

The exhibition can be viewed online at reevescontemporary.com. For more information, the gallery can be reached at 212-714-0044.


Jazz Night featuring Ohad Talmor - Bob Bowen Duo With current exhibition of DANIEL KOHN Presence and Memory April 20th, 2006 at 8pm

On Thursday, April 20th starting at 8PM Reeves Contemporary is pleased to host the Jazz duo Ohad Talmor – Bob Bowen. Recent work by painter Daniel Kohn will be on exhibition in the gallery, as this current show continues through May 13th.

Ohad Talmor and Bob Bowen have been playing together for over 10 years. Their musical partnership includes projects such as in the "MOB Trio", a group they co-lead along with drummer Matt Wilson and for which they recorded 2 CDs. They have also played alongside the famed Lee Konitz. Accomplished composers as well as improvisers, the music they play echoes their common interests ranging from the vast Jazz Heritage to contemporary classical and pop !

Tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor has been recognized as one of the leading voices for the new generation of Jazz musicians as a composer and saxophone player. He is a regular collaborator with his mentor Lee Konitz, as well as luminaries such as Steve Swallow, Carla Ble and Jason Moran. Bassist Bob Bowen has been a mainstay of the NY Jazz scene since his arrival in the city 10 years ago, playing in numerous projects as a sideman and leading his own projects. Actively involved in bringing music to kids, he is the founder of the Creative Music Workshop of NY.

The exhibition can be viewed on line at reevescontemporary.com. For more information, on this Jazz event or Kohn’s current exhibition the gallery can be reached at 212-714-0044.


May 8, 2004
Contact: Kristin Russo
Daniel Kohn: Interiors and Portraits
May 27th – June 30th, 2004
Daniel Kohn opens a solo exhibition at Reeves Contemporary, 535 West 24 th Street in New York City, with an artist’s reception Thursday evening, May 27 th between 6-8 p.m.

The new series marks a return to his subtle observations of quotidian life. These compositions of dining tables and living spaces celebrate relationship and the quiet solace of routine. The paintings’ expansive scale, rich color fields, and generosity of spirit create an irresistible space for the viewer to enter in.

Kohn was born in Ahmedabad, in India of French and American parents, and lived and worked in France before moving to New York where he currently resides. Through this multicultural lens, he developed the new series of paintings to explore the sense of place as linked to a personalization of one’s cultural history. “Interiors and Portraits” includes several two- and three- panel pieces done over the past year at his studio in Brooklyn as well as several works from 1997, marking the shift in his work as a result of his move from Paris to New York.

His early work centered on the interiors of his family’s summer house in Changy, France – a small village he at moments calls his true home. These paintings depict the table, some with figures and some with only traces of human interaction. The table itself is the center around which the life of the house breathes, the rhythms of the home written on its surface recording the day’s events. Kohn’s tremendous abilities as a draftsman in combination with his acute sensitivity to the subjects of his portraits together reveal the unspoken subtext of the gathering. The sureness of how he lays down the paint evokes the quietude of a room, now empty.

The Changy Interiors were followed by work focused on the urban landscape, brought about a residency on the 91 st floor of the Trade Towers. Struck by the views looking east toward Brooklyn and beyond, Kohn focused on the presence of the horizon line in the midst of the urbanscape. It became the compelling theme as seen from this high vantage point. Utilizing the implicit verticality of the Trade Tower windows, Kohn created a series of paintings that caught the views over lower Manhattan in all directions: tall “Tower Horizon” panels that celebrated the complex geometries of the city as it meets the more fluid line of its surrounding riverways.

Out of this series, Kohn was able to realize a challenging installation made to allow a space of reflection on the loss created by the Trade Towers collapse. Working in collaboration with the MTA in New York, which commissioned the work, he developed a public art piece that was installed in Grand Central Station in the summer of 2002. Two soaring installations of 20 7 x 7 foot panels each (in a 5x4 panel grid) were hung at either end of the grand waiting room; each view measured 35 x 28 feet. The installation created a quiet, loosely defined ‘room’ in which thousands took time to sit and reflect.

Kohn has done a number of site-specific works, including a commissioned work 40 feet high by 10 feet wide for Fiduciary Trust at Rockefeller Center, a series of ten large format interiors for the prestigious Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox, among other installations. 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.


Reeves Contemporary is in a new 5000 square foot exhibition space at 535 West 24 th on the second floor. The gallery represents a number of artists from the New England region, in addition to artists from throughout the United States, Canada and abroad, including Eric Aho, Doug Trump, Milan Klic, Donald Dreifuss, Sarah Amos, Emily Mason and Ray Ruseckas. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 – 5:30 with additional hours by appointment. Contact 212-714-0044