Yael David-Cohen

Yael David-Cohen is a London based artist, whose abstract and colourful works investigate the themes of nature and growth through recognisable organic shapes and forms. Her oeuvre includes large-scale mixed media on fabrics, intaglio prints and handmade artist books. Yael was born in Jerusalem and Graduated from the Tel Aviv Art School and the University of Tel Aviv (BA, Literature and Philosophy). Most of her work was painting on canvas but as she experimented with larger scale pieces she began to use industrial textiles and rolls of paper that could be obtained in bigger dimensions. The development in use of materials lead to her choice of printmaking as the focus of her Postgraduate studies at the St. Martins School of Art, London. In this period Yael experimented with a technique in film animation pioneered by Norman Maclaren where inks and textures are applied directly to the surface of the film without using a camera. Whilst Yael's current work is abstract there are often recognisable organic shapes and forms, reflecting Yael's interests in Nature and Growth. She works very instinctively and responds to the features that the materials already have. Yael says that when adding colour or applying new fabrics to the surface of the work she feels more as though she is getting inside the material and excavating intrinsic layers of colour and form rather than composing something entirely new. In recent years Yael has produced several artist books based on intaglio etching. One of the book was based on a response to passages from the book Things by Georges Perec. Her work in this medium is not an illustration or visualisation of the narrative but more of an emotional response to the writing. The piece is presented as a box of collected prints. She has produced similar pieces that relate to the books of Jonah and Ecclesiastes from the Bible (one of which has been acquired by The British Museum). A new work based on the Book of Ruth is currently in production. Yael has had numerous solo and group exhibitions both in London and abroad. For a complete list, as well as more information please visit http://www.yaeldc.co.uk