Alex Cohen: Over the Balustrade
![Alex Cohen, On the Road a Smithy, 2019 [Artist's frame]](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_500,h_500,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite1702/usr/images/exhibitions/group_images_override/20/alex-cohen-001.jpg)
“All imagery is illusion, and all illusion teases a sense of what is real and what is fake; what is the artifact and what is the artifice... In essence, it is the byproduct of art that tends to be more important than the product. Munch’s scream or the plot of Casablanca are not what move us so much as the strange qualities that texture the experience of these artworks.”— Alex Cohen, August 20, 2025
Vardan Gallery is pleased to present Over the Balustrade, a solo exhibition of oil paintings and handcrafted frames by Alex Cohen, on display October 4 - November 8, 2025.
Born in 1980 in Newtown, Pennsylvania, Cohen studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he developed a disciplined yet exploratory studio practice. Each of Cohen’s paintings invites the viewer on a journey into an uncanny landscape. A figure rows toward the narrow entry of a sea cave. Another cautiously approaches a roadside blacksmith. Ivory tusks spark a tussle in the dark. Abductions under streetlamps, conversations with ghosts or clouds, a fish that catches fishermen, and an abandoned hat on a rainy sidewalk—among others. These intimate paintings gently implicate the viewer as witness to something familiar and yet fantastical, comingling revelation with risk.
“I don’t work from preconceived ideas,” Cohen reflects. “Motifs arise out of process." His oil paintings often extend beyond the painted surface, accompanied by handcrafted,
carved, and gilded frames made with equal care, allowing each work to dwell in its own singular space. In the exhibition’s namesake painting, Over the Balustrade, a softly rendered figure leaps over a veranda within a deep blue and sea-green twilight landscape. “I think of this piece as a metaphor for when a breach in expectation opens the door to adventurous possibility,” says Cohen. “These moments of flux are the unseen motors behind my paintings."
Cohen is also co-creator of Kings Oaks, where he curates exhibitions, performances, and educational events in collaboration with theater artist Clara Weishahn. Together, they cultivate a space for art and community on a historic farm in Newtown.
Over the Balustrade marks Cohen’s first solo exhibition with Vardan Gallery and inaugurates a series of new collaborations with Maison Trouvaille. The artist's paintings and handcrafted frames find a natural harmony within the inviting Italian Renaissance-style villa in West Hollywood, where Vardan Gallery and Maison Trouvaille are honored to present and share Cohen's remarkable artistry.
The exhibition may be experienced Thursday - Saturday, by appointment: info@vardangallery.com