See what Lynne Cohen has been up to
Lynne Cohen likes to say that she is “an acquired taste.”
And it is certainly safe to say that many people in Ottawa acquired a taste for her often creepy photographs of ominous, unoccupied rooms during the three decades she lived in Ottawa and taught photography at the University of Ottawa.
A new exhibition of her work has just opened at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. The title is False Clues.
Montreal is Cohen’s new home and that city has embraced her wholeheartedly. But for her many fans in Ottawa and the generations of students she influenced in the capital over three decades, the 68-year-old Cohen will always be an Ottawa artist.
So, what is False Clues all about?
The exhibition focuses on recent work. Many of the 40 photographs were taken in hard-to-access military installations, backrooms of police stations and strange laboratories.
There is a more political edge to these works than in many of her older ones. We instantly feel we cannot trust the people who use these spaces. Cohen herself describes our reaction to the activities that surely must occur in such rooms as “not knowing and not wanting to know.”
Haven’t we seen these photographs at Cohen’s exhibitions in Ottawa?
No, most of these works were not part of her 2002 retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada called No Man’s Land, nor in the 2006 exhibition at Carleton University Art Gallery called Camouflage.
But haven’t we seen some of these photographs in places in Ottawa other than art galleries?
Yes. Some of the works were borrowed from such prominent Ottawa art collectors as Joe Friday and Glen Bloom. If you hang out with either of those guys, chances are you have been introduced to some of these works.
What’s your favourite photograph in False Clues?
It is called Untitled (Astroturf ). A claustrophobic room with a vivid green Astroturf floor covering is furnished only with a cosy armchair and an undecorated Christmas tree. A small, ceiling-mounted camera is pointed at the chair, which faces one of those observation windows where people can watch you but you can’t watch them.
What the heck is this room? Cohen does not tell us. So, our imaginations run wild. Clearly, no one wants to be the person who has to sit in that chair.
What about the mannequins riddled with bullet holes?
This photograph is called Untitled (Balloons). Three mannequins who look more like cartoon characters than humans are placed in a room with a dirty floor and missing ceiling tiles. The mannequins are pitted with holes that look suspiciously like bullet holes. What on earth is happening? Cohen does not tell us, but the curator of the exhibition, François LeTourneux, spills the beans: These are mannequins police use for target practice. And, as for the balloons here and there in the room? Who knows?
How has Cohen described the photograph with the mannequins?
“You could not find anything more meaningless and more dramatic if you tried.”
Is that quotation a good summation of Cohen’s oeuvre?
Definitely. Cohen finds spaces that ordinarily would not merit a second look. But she frames them in such a way, and totally out of context, that the rooms take on a surreal quality. We instantly become very suspicious of what nefarious activities occur in such “meaningless” rooms.
How long will False Clues remain in Montreal before touring nationally and internationally?
The show closes April 28.
What if I want to see more of Cohen’s work?
A large retrospective is tentatively being planned for Madrid in 2014. Europeans generally have acquired a taste for Cohen. France and Germany are particularly fond of her.
Is there another good museum show to visit during a day trip to Montreal?
Yes, visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to see an exhibition called Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon. This is a huge show of Peruvian art from ancient pre-Hispanic days right up to contemporary times. That show runs until June 16.
Where can I get more information?
The website for the Musée d’art contemporain is www.macm.org and the website for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is www.mbam.qc.ca.