Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Cohen.
Hi Francisco, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a visual artist and my husband Peter Cohen is a fashion designer.
After all the chaos of the last few years, we decided it’s time for a fresh start.
We teamed up to open SEIS Gallery in March 2022.
We washed the space in light and welcomed all!
At the end of the day, SEIS is just a little place in space.
But we contain multitudes.
We’re currently exhibiting painters, sculptors, singers and furniture designers.
It’s a place to transcend old limitations and show off the cool new stuff people are doing.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road at all but, we’re lucky because it’s been for a very twisted reason. There is so much talent out there, people working at the highest levels of their craft. Our main struggle has really been a mission to refine our options.
I am grateful to be surrounded by many talented people who are creative in lots of different directions.
It affirms a long-held belief of mine: Artists need other artists.
I think that’s always been true, frankly, but there’s something about this moment in particular.
The world is bright and it’s big and it’s beautiful.
Are you brave enough to grab it?
Are you courageous enough to go where it leads you?
I don’t know.
We’ll see.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In a way, it all goes back to my own work as an artist. I am known for painting portraits of communities in my own work as a painter.
I do this by making 30 portraits in 30 days.
I wind up mapping out connections between people who you’d never think of as knowing each other in a million years. This cop knows this drag queen who introduced me to this housewife whose brother is in this biker gang, and so on.
When exhibited all together the work illuminates a community at a glance.
The paintings all become brothers and sisters and cousins of each other; not one of us is truly alone.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something surprising people might not know about our work is that I don’t think it’s my job to make up some fantasy for you.
You can see it in my own work as an artist. I paint things that are there, as close as possible to how I see them. I’m not gonna sit here and BS you. If it’s supposed to be an apple it’s gonna look like an apple. I know lots of other artists that are really good at making art based on the concept of apples, but I’m not. I’m just really good at painting apples.
My husband Peter Cohen’s clothes, too, is excellently made. The fit is on point and you look amazing in it.
But at the end of the day, you have to wear it.
The clothes can’t be more interesting than you or else it’s a bust.
How this plays out in the gallery is that we think of ourselves as a matchmaking service between artists and collectors, muses and makers.
We arrange the introduction. That’s it.
It’s up to you to fall in love.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: SEISgallery.com
- Instagram: SEISgalleryLA
Image Credits:
Photographs: Joseph Seif, Francisco Cohen Sculpture: Bruce Arnott Paintings: Peter Lodato SEIS Gallery
