Artist Statement

My artwork comes from life—the scenes I witness, the places I visit, and, increasingly, the people I observe. As a world traveler, I spend a great deal of time walking, sitting, watching, and drawing. I always have a sketchbook with me.

For the past eight years, I have visited Bangkok, Thailand where my son and his family live. I stay in an apartment on a road that becomes increasingly busy with people and traffic as the day progresses. Frequently, I walk on this road where there are three traffic lanes with buses, cars, tuk-tuks and motor bikes. People move up and down the road where there are temples, mosques, schools, food vendors, small open-air shops, bus stops, a nearby pier, and an overhead commuter train station.

During my morning walks I began to notice women street vendors and became curious about them. I watched them prepare for the day’s work. I photographed many of these women—from behind and without the women knowing—as they prepared for work while the street became alive with neighbors, commuters and shoppers.

From the photographs I completed thirteen mixed media drawings and twenty-five prints. The prints combine etchings and monotype; some incorporate collage and others have colored backgrounds and a few were made with stencil blocking ink. In each image, one or more women move through a gritty warm atmosphere. Wearing worn clothes or uniforms, the women cook street food, sweep the street, mop an entrance, arrange dried flowers, push a cart or cross the street between waves of oncoming traffic. They are sturdy and focused and always moving in relation to the street’s life.

Biography

Ruth Cohen is a mixed media artist. She is self taught and has been creating art since 1992. Her creativity is impacted by visiting other countries and cultures. She travels to European countries frequently, and she stays in Thailand and Laos during the winter. She has exhibited in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Mariposa Gallery since 2014 and with the Luna Project since 2009. She ia currently exhibiting at Mosaic Market in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She also sells her artwork in France, Laos and Washington, DC.

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