Claremont Insider: LA Times Reviews Cohen Exhibit

Friday, February 20, 2009

LA Times Reviews Cohen Exhibit

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Last week we wrote about the Leonard Cohen-A-Polooza going on over at the Claremont McKenna College.

CMC's Gould Center is hosting Southern California premiere of composer Philip Glass' piece Book of Longing, based on a book of Cohen poems by the same name. Glass himself is at the keyboard as part of the performances. Additionally, CMC's Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum is hosting a very rare exhibit of Cohen's art work.

We did not appreciate just how rare the exhibit, titled "Drawings from the Heart," was until a reader emailed us to note that this is just the third significant exhibit of Cohen's work as a visual artist. The reader also pointed out that last Sunday's Los Angeles Times had a write up of the Cohen-related events.

Times writer David Ng had this to say about the Cohen art exhibit:

With more than 50 prints of Cohen’s paintings and drawings, the show is a broad survey of his work during the last 40 years. Recurring motifs include the female nude and self-portraits of the artist’s wizened face. But there are also cryptic, slyly comic references to his time on Mt. Baldy.

In one work, “Dear Roshi,” Cohen depicts a nude goddess alongside a brief letter to his elderly monastery instructor. In the letter, Cohen calls himself “a useless monk” and asks Roshi’s forgiveness for meeting (and presumably falling in love with) a woman.

“Leonard has a wry sense of humor. There’s a clarity and tremendous cutting humor in his work, even amidst the brokenness,” said Bob Faggen, the organizer of the show and a friend of Cohen.

Philip Glass - Book of Longing
February 25 - March 1, 2009
8:00pm

Garrison Theatre
Scripps Performing Arts Center, Scripps College
231 E. Tenth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
Tickets on Sale Now


"Drawings from the Heart"
Mondays through Fridays, 8:30am to 4pm

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
For information, call (909) 621-8244