Charles Cohen

Charles Cohen was born in New York, New York in 1968. Cohen attended University of Chicago and graduated in 1990. Cohen then went on to receive a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995. Cohen often deals with the ideas of absence and the presence of absence in his photography. Cohen is most well known for his series "Buff" which took pornographic photos and removed the people in the photos leaving a white void in the photos. The "Buff" series and Cohen's other works allow the viewer to interact with his photography by filling the voids with what each individual thinks should take its place.
Charles Cohen's work can be viewed online: http://www.promulgator.com
Cohen was interview in 2006 by Mark Cooley and a transcript of the interview can be found here: http://newmediafix.net/daily/?p=987.
Cohen explains how absence/presence plays out in his work in three different ways. According to Cohen the first effect is the recognition of the void in the work. The second effect of the void is the "abstract effect" which he describes as any intellectual effect that is had by the viewer. The "reflexive effect" is the final step of interacting with these works. Cohen's work deals with the expectations of the viewer and manipulates the expectations with voids in the photography. This in many ways is a psychological process as the human mind fills in voids to create a full image. Cohen details the differences between his "Buff" series, which deals with lack of emotion, and his "Analog Time" series which deals with real emotion. Cohen does not show the two series at the same time because of confusion that can arise between the two pieces. While "analog time" carries over some of the pieces of "Buff" the statement is different. Cohen describes the interactivity with his work as a type of "co-authorship" which is true interaction with the images. Cohen speaks to the iPod campaign and its use of white voids which allows audience interaction as well. Cohen continues to work with presence and absence of presence in his work and is exploring these concepts in film and sculpture.