Exploring Elysium in Ezra Cohen's Debut Exhibition at JO-HS Gallery, Mexico City

This month, current artist-in-residence, Ezra Cohen, presents “Elysium” at JO-HS Gallery in Mexico City in partnership with Trotter & Scholar in New York City. Cohen will be showing 10 large-scale paintings from April 6 to May 30 for his first solo exhibition in Latin America.

The JO-HS residency was an opportunity for Cohen to further develop previous work that was based on Elysium, exploring “the other side of the veil” as a mythological paradise and apocalyptic destruction. He will now present vibrant and texture-filled paintings for the new series made between 2023 and 2024.

Elisabeth Johs, Founder and Director of JO-HS Gallery expresses that “This is particularly symbolic as these works started in Ezra’s Hell’s Kitchen studio and were ultimately finished in our residency at JO-HS CDMX. We’ve had the pleasure of watching Ezra’s work come to life, and we couldn’t be more excited to allow the community in Mexico City to be as enamored by this exhibition as we are.”

About Elysium

In the paintings, allusions to religion, history, mythology, and metaphysics make a bold statement through Cohen’s distinctive style of intense colors and abstraction. His style allows for him and viewers to engage with life’s big questions by detaching from the world in order to look towards transformation. He has translated this style to homages of the Mexican landscape he currently lives in as a resident at JO-HS.

The New York native recognizes being influenced by Abstract Expressionists and artists such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Eugène Delacroix, and Ogata Kõrin which these influences will be apparent to those viewing the exhibition.