On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at 11.30 a.m. Joseph Gallivan interviews artist David Cohen about his show The Church Of Lepidoptera, which is on now through March 29 at Gallery 114 in the Pearl District. Cohen talks about using watercolors to make paintings that look like Roman floor mosaics or Gothic stained glass windows, his love of Oregon pollinators such as moths and butterflies, and how making art after a lifetime in arts administration helps express his reverence for nature.
David Cohen was the executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon from 2002 to 2009.
From Preview Magazine:
Cohen’s marvelous images of moths and butterflies remind one of Damien Hirst, Christoper Marley and even the stained-glass windows of Gilbert & George. Cohen’s paintings are styled like Roman mosaics. They have a delightful geometric regularity and display an intelligent use of color. Cohen was the executive director of Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft from 2002 to 2009. He took up art again in retirement, so he knows a thing or two about following one’s passion.
From the press release:
The Church of Lepidoptera, is a series of recent watercolor paintings by gallery member David Cohen to be exhibited along with glass sculpture created by guest artist Jen Fuller.
Cohen’s exhibition, The Church of Lepidoptera, continues his interests in finding new ways to depict the natural world and our relationship to it. Creating an installation that feels “church-like,” Cohen offers the viewer a devotional space to celebrate not only the role of these important pollinators but also referencing Pacific Northwesterners' deep reverence for nature and its many cohabitants. Butterflies played a unique role in Cohen’s life - as a child he was an avid butterfly “hunter” spending many hours in the empty fields near his suburban home trying to get close and capture these elusive yet beautiful creatures.
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Joseph Gallivan has been a reporter since 1990. He has covered music for the London Independent, Technology for the New York Post, and arts and culture for the Portland Tribune and for Axios Portland. He is the author of two novels, "Oi, Ref!" and "England All Over" which are available lightly used.