Jeff Cowen – Provence Works

Analogue craftsmanship and experiment

In a world that is dominated by digital screens, technology, speed and overproduction, Cowen seeks to draw our attention to the sublime experience of nature’s beauty through his work. As a photographic artist, he keeps well away from the digital world and has a real hands-on approach to the craftsmanship of the photographic process. He uses self-made enlargers to create large analog prints on thick, wavy photographic paper. He experiments with darkroom techniques and chemical formulas, rendering each print a unique work.

While his photography encompasses all the traditional art historical genres, such as still life, landscape and portraiture, the alchemy in the darkroom during manual printing plays an important role, and in some works abstraction takes over.

The light of Provence

His working practices and the final result of Provence Works also make one think of painting. In the past, renowned artists such as Cézanne and Van Gogh chose the region as a subject. The aesthetic of melancholy and the closeness with nature that they painted is also palpable in Cowen’s work. After years as a nomadic artist living and working in metropolises such as New York, Berlin and Paris, Cowen turned his lens to the Provençal terrain. The intensity of the mountainous landscape, the power of a simple artichoke, the vastness, and the often fiercely blue sky provide him with inspiration from nature in the same way as they did for Cézanne and Van Gogh. Through this work, he aligns himself with the artists who were able to translate their inspiration drawn from Provence into art.

Huis Marseille and the Van Gogh Museum

Huis Marseille and the Van Gogh Museum will be participating in a special joint effort for this exhibition. Parallel to the show at Huis Marseille, the Van Gogh Museum will present a small group of works by Jeff Cowen, alongside drawings and paintings that Van Gogh produced while in Provence.