Professor of Printmaking Charles Cohan is featured in a solo exhibition of prints titled SNOWBLIND, at Gallery Ether in Tokyo from Oct. 21 through Nov. 11, 2024.
In SNOWBLIND, Hawai’i-based printmaker Charles Cohan presents multiple ongoing print series exploring optical phenomena in his second solo-exhibition to be held by GALLERY ETHER. Inspired by the artist’s own experience with Photokeratitis, a painful condition of the eyes caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) light rays. The condition is akin to a sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva and is known to cause pain, intense tears, eye twitching, constricted pupils, and discomfort from bright light. Cohan first experienced this condition at an altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) while climbing Mt. Hood in Oregon, USA. Through his ongoing series, Cohan delivers a quite literal visual consideration of the indelible effects of retinal burn and optical failure, while giving further consideration to them as metaphorical representations of various psychological forms of “lack of vision”.
