Alex Bradley Cohen’s paintings are characterized by their flattened, prismatic landscapes and figures, a style reminiscent of Cubism that reimagines spatial and relational perspectives. For a More Just Future utilizes this technique as well as muted tones, indicative of the mounting fear and tension in the scene.
Two presumably white police officers, one of whom appears to be riding a snarling K-9, approach three figures of color standing with their arms raised. A vehicle is parked in the background and, in the foreground, the back of a third officer is barely visible. This interaction, and the violence and potential death that is almost expected out of this interaction, is all too familiar in the United States today. The non-threatening pose assumed by each of the three figures of color has become synonymous with ongoing protests demanding divestment, defunding and even total abolishment of the police throughout the country. As this country continues to be consumed by a wave of national reckoning with police violence and anti-Black racism, For a More Just Future offers an especially timely commentary on law enforcement and its deadly over-policing of Black people and communities of color.
— Adria Gunter, Curatorial Assistant
The few works featured below, in the gallery, are great examples of works that pair well with Alex Bradley Cohen’s painting For a More Just Future.
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Purvis Young, Untitled, 1985-1999. Mixed media,48 1/2 x 38 inches (123.2 x 96.5 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida.
